Mini Slayers
by Gabbage20
Summary: The gadget the Mayor left Faith is faulty and instead of doing the correct thing, it throws the two Slayers into the place that could have been. As if that wasn't bad enough, they're also stuck in their 5-year-old bodies and nobody understands them. B/F
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** The device the Mayor left to Faith fails epically and instead of the Slayers switching bodies or anything _silly_ like that, they instead turn into five-year-olds who can't speak English and who end up in a place, where everything is turned upside-down. A place where Faith might just be one of the good guys, Fitch might be the Mayor and Buffy... well Buffy might be making out with Faith in graveyards. Confused, the two Slayers can't even ask anyone about what the heck is going on, because really, when has anything been that easy for either of them?

Come on – you know you want to find out what kind of a ridiculous plot is THAT? ^^

**PS!** Tiny midget people speak in a weird way. _To indicate that, their speech will be in ITALIC._

**Main pairing:** Buffy & Faith (This also counts as a possible slash warning. Be aware!)  
**Secondary pairings:** Willow & Tara, Xander & Anya  
**  
Chapter 1**

As soon as their hands touched, they both felt a strong pull. One that seemed to take hold of their navel and twist it nice and hard, before it started to spin them around like rag dolls just for the kicks of it.

Gasping, Buffy Summers did her best to free her hand, but no matter how hard she pulled, nothing seemed to change. The metal thingy Faith had thrust in her hand seemed to be attached to her completely. So there wasn't anything she could really do but wait.

A few moments passed. Neither of them could breathe anymore. All that registered was spinning. And there was spinning. Lots of it.

One of them was going to be sick any moment now.

But as suddenly as it all had begun, it also ended. The sensation stopped and everything disappeared. Faith Lehane could now see nothing. It was eerily silent around her.

Then a flash of light blinded her.

In the hallway, only few metres away, stood Joyce Summers. Her eyes were wide and the sight she had just seen had not even registered yet. It took her a moment, a couple of shaky breaths and then a quiet 'Oh my god' before she could function properly again.

Using her newly gained ability to actually move herself, she hastily picked up the phone and dialled a number that had become rather familiar over the time. She frowned, waiting for the man to pick up, but as always, he did so rather quickly.

"Mr. Giles?" She swallowed nervously. "I think we might have a big problem."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

The girl blinked back the stars a few times. She was lying on something hard and cold. Right above her was a blue sky with just a few scattered clouds in it. She frowned and hesitantly tried to move herself, glad when she could.

So she was alive. Bonus cookie points for that. She clenched her hand and then paused. Realizing, where it actually was, she jerked it away from the warm hold and jumped onto her feet.

What. The. **FUCK?**

Next to her another girl stirred, this one blonde. She too stared up for a moment, before a look of realization crossed her face. She flipped up quickly and brought her hands in front of her in an offensive pose – ready to kick someone's ass.

However, then she too realized something did not quite add up here.

_"What the hell?"_ Buffy's hands fell automatically on to her sides so she could stop her pants from falling off. Shocked, she glanced down at them and noticed how abnormally close the ground was to her now.

A moment later, she brought her eyes to the tiny brunette she had noticed earlier.

Instead of the tough looking eighteen-year-old she had faced earlier, there stood a small girl with curly brown hair and incredibly wide chocolate eyes. The girl fidgeted under her gaze, before pulling closer the big leather jacket, which now seemed to completely swallow her.

Then the brunette tilted her head.

_"B?" _

The blonde blinked and then, almost as if an on-button had been pushed in her brain, her face clouded over and her eyebrows furrowed. With a loud hiss, she spoke,

_"What did you do?" _

Faith rolled her eyes. Cause _obviously_ this is what she would plan.

_"I did not do this!"_ she replied, an edge in her voice. When Buffy's retort was merely a disbelieving snort, she had to add, _"Of course, since you're all about being miss goody-two-shoes, you can't even fandom the idea, that it might've been you, can ya?"_

Buffy stepped just a little bit closer to her.

_"Well, call me stupid, but you 're the one with the weird device. You're also crazy and all around unstable. Plus you keep trying to kill me!"_ Buffy's tone of voice was rather loud by now. _"So really, what does that give us?"_

Her rant would've probably been more effective had she had any pants on. In her disbelief she had forgotten to hold on to the edge of her jeans and thus they had pooled around her small legs.

Faith however didn't seem to even notice. The tip of her tongue slid over her front teeth as she took things to consideration.

"_Yeah,"_ she finally drawled. _"Point taken. But it still wasn't me, who did this. Maybe this thing…"_ she glanced around the ground around them. _"The thing that should fuckin' be here…"_ She growled. _"Where's the thing?"_

_"What thing?"_ Buffy held onto her t-shirt, more than a little annoyed. Of course this would happen to her. Should've seen this coming. After all, it's completely normal to just stand on the street, talking with her five-year-old archenemy.

It's sad that for her, it's not even so unbelievable.

_"That metal thing,"_ The brunette moved around, carefully lifting one foot in front of the other, while she held onto her jacket and tried especially hard to not fall on her face. She huffed, seemingly in thought and then shrugged her jacket off, leaving herself in a tank top – more like a tank dress now – and jeans, which she held up with her tiny hands. Only now did she speak,

"_It's not even here!"_

Buffy couldn't help the amused snort

_"You whine like a little child."_

Faith turned around, scowling at the girl. For a second her gaze darted to the ground. When she met Buffy's eyes again, she was smirking.

_"And you, holier-than-thou Buffy, are looking like a real adult with your panties on the ground."_

The blonde looked down quickly and blushed, realizing her jeans hadn't been the only thing to fall off.

_"Turn us back!"_ She demanded, moving over and smacking the other girl. She was rather happy to notice she still had her Slayer powers.

_"I told you,"_ Faith growled, stopping the next hit headed her way_. "I DID NOT DO THIS!"_

_"Don't yell at me. You have no right to yell at me_," Buffy's voice wavered, anger evident in her tone. _"You, you held a knife to my mother's throat!"_

_"Well you held a knife in my gut, so shut up."_ Faith grabbed a small fistful of the girl's shirt, looking as if she was about to hit the blonde. However, the sight registered in her brain – the tininess of the girl in front of her affecting her somewhat – and she released her. _"Just... Do you see the friggin' metal thingy?"_

Buffy averted her eyes from the brunette, possibly coming to the same realization the brunette had seconds ago. Hitting kids was not okay in her book either, even if she happened to be one at that time.

_"No. Though it could be buried under the clothes."_ She moved them a bit, before speaking quietly, _"It's not here."_

_"No shit, Sherlock,"_ Faith spoke, rubbing her temples. _"This doesn't make any sense. It wasn't supposed to do this. I mean we're kids. Fucking kids!"_

_"No shit, Sherlock,"_ Buffy mocked the brunette, looking around._ "Also, where are we?"_

_"Oh, look, B, this is me pulling a map out of my pocket. Except, I don't have pockets nor a map!" _Faith snapped, her gaze moving around. Making no connection, she sighed. _"Screw this, I'm just going to go – that way."_

She held up her pants and started to leave, taking baby steps. Buffy, who had no pants whatsoever, caught up with her quickly.

_"What? You can't just leave. You have to change us... you have to tell me how to change back."_

_"I'm not a fucking encyclopaedia, B. I'm telling ya, I don't know!"_ Faith snapped, stumbling over her jeans slightly. _"So just leave me alone!"_

_"I can't,"_ Buffy spoke dejectedly_. "I'm a kid. Butt-naked kid might I add. I have no idea where I am and the only person I do know is leaving. Trust me, if I had other options, I'd take them."_

"_Seriously,"_ Faith growled, continuing to paddle away like a teeny tiny penguin, not looking back at the blonde_. "I'll push you onto the friggin' road if you don't back off."_

Buffy seemed to get the point as she froze. However, merely a second later, she scurried after the brunette again.

_"Faith? FAITH! Faith, would you stop?"_

_"Why would I WANT to stop?"_ The brunette wheeled around, losing all balance. She would've fallen onto the concrete, head first, hadn't a small hand on her shoulder balanced her immediately.

_"Look,"_ The blonde pointed onto the distance with her other hand, _"Willow."_

"_What?"_ The brunette turned again, this time slower. And really, there stood the redheaded witch, eyeing the two of them carefully.

_"What do we do?" _Buffy asked. Faith bit back the sarcastic remark she was about to give and retort with a simple,

_"I don't know."_

Her only plan would've been to run as fast as she could. But all things considered, her 'as fast as possible' was way slower than Willow's regular walking.

_"Here goes nothing,"_ Buffy, unaware of the brunette's failing escape plans, started to wave her hands around crazily, _"Willow! WILLOW!"_

The redheaded witch looked around. Seeing nobody but herself, she approached the two of them cautiously.

_"Willow!"_ The blonde lunged at the witch, hugging her legs. _"I don't know what happened. But it's me, Buffy! We had a fight and now I'm all small and I don't have any clothes or anything. And Faith got..."_

A soft tug on the back of her t-shirt made the Slayer turn to look at her tiny enemy.

_"What?" _

_"I don't think she understand you, B,"_ Faith responded, shaking her head. _"Look."_

_"Yo Willow, it's me, Faith. So I'm just going to strip and run around the city now, killing all sorts of nice people, while eating cabbage yoghurt while I'm at it!"_

The witch merely kept peering down at them, her face a picture of confusion. Buffy's brows furrowed. She tilted her head and stared back at the redhead, softly asking,

_"Willow, can you understand us?"_

Instead of verbally replying or maybe even nodding, Willow crouched down to get a better look at them.

"What language are you speaking? Do you speak English? English?" The redhead bit her lip. "Where are your parents? Mom and Dad? Mommy and Daddy? Mama and Papa?"

Buffy slapped her own forehead.

_"Buffy?"_ She spoke again, experimentally _. "Buffy?"_

"Goghr?" Willow slid a hand through her hair. "I..."

_"Goghr?"_ Disbelief coloured Faith's voice. _"She didn't say goghr! She said BUFFY! BUFFY!"_

"Goghr?" Willow repeated, "What does that mean? Food? Yum-yum?" She mimicked eating. "Mommy, daddy?" Hugging motions were being made.

Faith rolled her eyes and stepped back, letting Buffy try once more to make herself be understood.

_"Me,"_ the blonde pointed at herself, _"Bu-ffy. Buffy."_

Willow, completely clueless about what the girl was saying, looked around, not able to see anything other than a pile of clothes. Maybe a bunch of vampires had attacked them, killed their parents and then were dusted by the sunlight? Wait, vampires didn't leave clothes behind, did they?

"Hold on," she softly spoke to the two most adorable girls she had ever met, as she pulled out her phone.

"Giles? I need help."

Buffy stopped pulling her hair as she heard a familiar name. She glanced at the phone.

_"Faith, she's calling Giles. Giles will know what to do!"_

_"Whoopedy doo,"_ the other girl replied, without much enthusiasm. Being caught by the redhead was one thing, something she could evade when it came to it. A roomful of Scoobies she was not so sure about.

The group, even though most of its members were as tough as bunnies, had a way to come out of all sorts of crappy situations as winners. Which this time would probably make her the loser.

She really needed a way out of this bullshit of a position. Away from the other Slayer and the superfriends, she could regroup. Except, that would be hard to do, what with being all dwarf-sized right now.

She tugged up her wide jeans and came to a decision. She'll stick with them until she's back to normal and then she'll just get the fuck out of there. Quality plan, that one.

Willow finished her call with Giles, surprised when a small blur hit her. She glanced down at her legs, which were hugged by the tiny blonde and smiled softly.

Still bewildered, she picked the girl up; furrowing her eyes at the weird attire she was in. She flexed even the tiniest muscles in her brain, trying to come up with a reason why any kids should wear such clothing.

Coming up with nothing, she just shook her head, grabbed the hand of the tiny brunette and started to walk.

She halted a second later, keeping her hand around the small girl's on the ground, even though the tiny brunette seemed to hold it like it was about to give her some disease, and softly tugged, urging the girl to move at least a little.

With a small murmur of contempt, Faith finally began to walk.

Now, another problem presented itself. Obviously, it was hard for a small kid to keep up with her, especially if the pants she wore were twice as long as her. So, Willow switched and picked up the struggling brunette, placing the blonde onto the ground instead.

Whereas the blonde had been calm and held onto her shoulders, the brunette seemed to be trying to push her away at start. Willow, like a good trooper she was, kept going, until a small cry interrupted her. Quickly she glanced at the ground and sighed.

A genius she was not right now.

The blonde was barefoot. And gravel just wasn't a nice thing to stroll on without any shoes.

Shifting the bags in her hand and the brunette to one side with difficulty, Willow bent down and swept the blonde into her arms. She envied the strength of the Slayers before starting to slowly waddle towards the next street.

_"This is the most ridiculous thing ever!"_ Faith groaned, still holding up her pants_. "I'll seriously never be able to look at Red again."_ The brunette wrinkled her nose and tried to put distance between herself and Willow's breast, which she was held against. "_Never!"_

_"Would you just shut up,"_ Buffy snapped, also in a not so comfortable place, "_At least you have pants!"_

Faith couldn't help it but snigger. Archenemy or not, the five-year-old blonde looked plainly hilarious with the flush she was getting, as she kept trying to stop her T-shirt from flapping around.

_"Don't say a thing,"_ Buffy warned, staring ahead stoically.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

So, carrying two kids, a backpack and a small plastic bag, Willow Rosenberg entered Giles' house, panting when she was finally able to place the kids onto the ground.

The three people already there, namely Giles, Anya and Xander, merely stared at her in shock.

"Willow, what the... who...?" Xander sputtered.

"I found them. They were just standing on the street a few blocks from here. They don't speak English and I think it's possible that their parents were killed by some demons."

_"We don't speak English_?" Faith quietly asked. She then looked up at the Scoobies and growled, "_It's not our fault you don't understand English!"_

_"Yeah!"_ Buffy added for good measure.

Giles leant closer to the two of them.

"Which language are they speaking?"

Faith's jaw clenched as she plopped onto the ground, pissed off.  
_  
"Retards. All of them."_

_"They are not! We'll get them to understand us,"_ Buffy rolled her eyes at the girl's antics, reached down and pulled her back onto her feet with ease. _"Now come on, look more like Faith so... Aaah!"_

Buffy squealed looking behind her. Someone had picked her up. Xander. Suddenly realizing something, she squealed again.

_"What?"_ Faith glanced up at her. A second later her eyes hit the ground. _"Um, B, you're really close to like flashing people."_

_"I KNOW!"_ The blonde snapped, struggling helplessly in the air. Then an idea struck.

The moment the loud wail pierced his ears, Xander jumped, before immediately placing the small kid back down. He made a few shushing sounds, but the fact that he backed away was the thing that really made Buffy quiet down.

"I didn't mean to," the man told to the people around him. Buffy in the meanwhile quickly tugged down her T-shirt more, satisfied when it seemed to cover everything down to her toes. Only then did the small blonde blush profusely.

"_Exhibitionist,"_ Faith coughed, looking the other way.

_"Shut up,"_ A hand immediately smacked her over the head. Unable to stop herself, the brunette shot a crooked grin the blonde's way, who smiled back for a second, before it faltered.

The grin slid off the brunette's face as well and they went back to staring to opposite directions.

"This is interesting," Giles spoke above them. "I have never heard anything like their speech."

Faith groaned loudly.  
_  
"English! It's called ENGLISH!_"

"Bagertk?" Giles quizzically repeated. Faith sat back onto the ground, shaking her head.

"Giles, she looks a bit," Willow's brows furrowed, "Disappointed?"

Faith gave an ironic thumb up towards the redhead, who seemed to be taken aback by it. The brunette threw a glance at the blonde.

"_Making more progress than you by just sittin' here, B_." Seeing Buffy frown at her, she smirked. _"Just sayin'."_

"_Real mature,"_ Buffy murmured, sitting down a foot away from the brunette.

_"Mature? B, I'm a fucking gnome and nobody understands me. How mature do you think I should be?"_

_"Well,"_ the blonde swallowed, before peering at her companion. _"At least I understand you."_

There was a small pause, during which the brunette stared at the carpet. Then, what seemed to be a forever later, Faith met the blonde's gaze and spoke the first sentence that sounded sincere that day.

_"No, B. You don't."_

Giles rubbed her nose, staring down at the pair of kids

"I don't know what we can do, Willow. For what it's worth they seem like regular kids, only they don't speak English. Maybe we should call social service."

_"Faith,"_ Buffy's tone was serious and quiet, as she looked away from her fellow Slayer. _"Scream."_

_"What?"_

_"Just scream!"_

The idea making sense, the brunette did scream. So did Buffy. As loud as they could until the redhead spoke – or well more like yelled over their screams,

"NO! No social services, okay?"

Silence.

"That's odd," Giles removed his glasses. "I think they might understand English."

"You think?" Xander asked, crouching down to their level. "Let's try. Stand."

All of them were a little taken aback when the children hopped to their feet almost immediately. The young man in front of them grinned.

"High five?"

In unison, the pair stepped forward and slapped the hands Xander held up.

_"This is stupid. This... This is beyond stupid,"_ the brunette muttered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. _"I'm supposed to be on my way to Malta by now! Instead I'm stuck patting X-man's hand!"_

_"Malta?"_ the blonde's head snapped towards her, as she backed away from Xander. _"Faith, what are you planning?"_

"_B, I'm not like that retarded blue guy you see in that cartoon you guys watch,"_ Faith rolled her eyes. _"I'm not going to tell ya what my plans are so you could screw them up as soon as you can."_

The blonde had nothing to say to that, so they want back to their uncomfortable silence.

"Do you think they understand each other?" Xander whispered to Giles and Willow, as they survived the two quiet children. "Cause they seem so ... serious for five-year-olds. Or six-year-olds. Or possibly overgrown four-year-olds."

The grown-ups changed glances, none having a clue.

_"Faith, so you'd know, I hoped you'd come out of the coma and regret what you did,"_ Buffy spoke a bit later, as they watched the three grownups start bustling around them, opening several translation books.

During the moment of silence that followed she kept her gaze at her friends. A smile crossed her lips at the sight of Willow and Xander reuniting their forces to drag Anya off the couch and towards the translation books Giles was carrying out in stacks. However, as the response from the brunette finally came the soft smile disappeared.

_"Seriously. Just save it, B. I don't need any more preaching about how things could've been,"_ Faith replied. Another moment of silence passed, both of them uncomfortable again, until the younger of the two added, _"How do you know I don't?"_

Buffy stopped fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt, surprised.

_"What? What do you mean?"_

Faith however didn't reply, having already been picked up by Xander, who placed her on the now free couch nearby.

"Can you say... food?"

Faith exhaled, annoyed.

_"Food."_

"Lyrw?" Xander repeated. "You got that?"

Willow and Giles nodded opening the dictionaries they had in their laps. Anya tried to peer over them to see the reruns of Simpsons. However, when Willow, noticing the demon slacking, switched the TV off, the blonde grudgingly joined them in their favourite pastime. Research.

_"Faith?"_

_"Don't."_

_"But."_

_"B, just forget it. I'm me. Shit happened and there's no way we'd know what could have been. So... drop it."_

_"Fine."_

"It's not Latin, Greek, Chinese, Demonicinese, Japanese, Arabic, mermanish, Estonian... Basically, it's no language I can think of," Giles sighed after at least an hour had passed.

"Maybe it's a less known demonic language or...?" Xander suddenly glanced at his clock. "By the way, where's Buffy?"

The blonde, currently residing in Willow's arms, perked up.

_"Of course! Now they have to start looking and when they can't find me, they'll get worried and call mom or..."_

"She's probably off with her arm candy," Anya sighed. "Bet those two are doing something way more fun than research."

_"...Or not?"_ Faith was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. _"Bet ya don't love your meatpack so much now."_

"Xander, want to have sex now?"

Faith's head turned to look at the research table, while Buffy groaned as two enormous hands were clapped over her ears.

"Not in front of the children, Anya!" the man hissed. The ex-demon rolled her eyes.

"Yes or no?"

Xander glanced at Giles, who waved his hand impatiently. "Oh, just... go."

Xander placed the girl onto the couch, said goodbye to Giles and Willow and made a quick exit.

"So, now what? It's getting a bit late," Willow spoke. "And the girls are probably hungry and sleepy."

_"Sleepy? No. Feeling miniature? Hell yes!"_ Faith's voice carried over from the couch.

_"Why bother? They don't understand,"_ Buffy rubbed her head. _"Unless we write it onto their foreheads..."_ she stopped. Faith's head popped up and her gaze met the blonde's over the distance between them.

_"We are fucking morons,"_ Faith finally concluded and Buffy was inclined to agree. Softly, she tugged on Willow's sleeve, who looked at her.

Buffy mimicked writing in the air. Willow's brow furrowed. More miming.

Faith whistled. Immediately, Willow turned to look at her instead. Standing by the table now, the brunette was holding up an old newspaper and pretending to write on it.

"You want to draw?" The brunette nodded, satisfied.

Willow handed her a pen a moment later. Faith grinned and started to write, handing it to Willow merely a moment later. The witch accepted it. Then she frowned.

"Hwrt ho? Gr'er newj yek ladrew f hfisl. Hg'e Gogher hsa Thrsz!"

"Let me see that," Giles cleaned his glasses. "This makes no sense."

Buffy turned to look at the brunette on the ground.

_"What?"_ the brunette exclaimed. _"I as sure as hell did write something like THAT onto the paper!"_

The small blonde managed to get hold of the paper. "_What the hell? This says – "Help us. We've been put under a spell. It's Buffy and Faith... How can they not see this?"_

Faith had started to hit her head against the small table nearby repeatedly.

_"We're going to be stuck like this. Forever."_

_"No,"_ Buffy groaned. _"Stop saying stuff like that. We'll be normal in no time."_

_"So we could try to kill each other again?" _

_"Yeah. Wait – no! What? Do you still want to kill me?"_ the blonde looked at the brunette, who just shrugged in response.

"_Really assuring, Faith,"_ Buffy yawned suddenly.

"See, Giles, they're tired," Willow spoke. "Where will they be staying? I can't take them to the dorms with me." She glanced meaningfully at the ex-librarian, who quickly shook his head.

"No, no, they cannot stay here," he denied, "I simply do not have enough room for two kids. I don't know what they eat or how they do their bodily functions..."

Both of the kids frowned up at him, so did Willow a second later.

"Bodily functions? Yeah, you're right. They're better off somewhere else..." The witch suddenly brightened up. "I know. Mrs. Summers! She could take them in until tomorrow. We'll find a translation spell or something by then."

"Yes, that'd be the best solution," Giles nodded. "Do you need any help taking them there?"

"That would be nice, thank you," Willow nodded, grabbing her bag and Buffy. Giles carefully picked up Faith and off they went.

The car was started, the girls buckled up in the backseat. That's when Buffy finally spoke.

_"They'll figure out something's wrong when we get there. I mean Mom saw us disappear, right?"_

"_Maybe."_

"And then we'll be okay again."  
  
Faith made a dull sound of agreement, staring out at the darkened streets of Sunnydale.

Buffy slid her tongue over her front teeth, a tad annoyed.

"_You could at least pretend to be hopeful."_

"_Why?"_ Faith's gaze was firmly stuck at the passing buildings, tone emotionless. _"Why would I want to be turned back into the chick who's either gonna be killed or thrown into a nice padded cell by the Watchers' Council as soon as she shows her face?"_

_"I... Well... Faith... I..."_

"_Rhetorical question, B."_

Willow kept her gaze on the rear mirror, her face thoughtful. The kids seemed to understand each other alright, but by the sound and picture of it – they seemed to be having issues. She shook herself mentally. Come on, they were what? Four? Five? How serious issues could they have?

And yet, the thought remained in her head.

The rest of the ride was quiet and so, they soon found themselves in front of the house. At first, Buffy grinned at the sight of it. Then something occurred to her - hadn't they broken the window during their fight? She glanced at Faith by her side, but didn't dare to ask.

"Here you go," Willow whispered, picking up both kids and balancing them while Giles made his way to the door. He knocked carefully, while eyeing the girls Willow was holding.

"Do you want me to...?" he offered. Willow shook her head.

"They're fine here."

Faith made evil eyes at the boob that seemed to be by her side way too often today for her liking. As Willow shifted she involuntarily pressed against it more. She shuddered. Oh she was far far away from being FINE here.

Buffy, following the brunette's train of thought thanks to the expression on her face, chuckled softly. However, as soon as Faith's eyes fluttered to her, she stopped and quickly looked around, muttering out a small 'Sorry'.

Faith released a long breath, aware that Giles was knocking again, this time with more force than before.

_"Listen, B, the way I see it, we're stuck like this for a while,"_ she waited until the blonde looked at her again. _"So we might as well try to not hate each other for the time being. Considering we're just about the only people we have to talk to. We'd go nuts otherwise."_

_"I think I can deal with that. Not going nuts, but... the not hating part,"_ Buffy stammered, liking the smile that Faith gave her and that made the tiny brunette look oh-so-adorable. However, before she could add something, Faith beat her to it.

_"I just have to say this,"_ she spoke seriously. _"Red's breasts are uber-perverts and I think she secretly enjoys harassing us with them."_

As if by fate, Willow shifted again and Faith bumped against the offending part.

_"Seriously!"_

Buffy laughed this time, not caring about the tiny leg that casually tried to kick her from Willow's other side. Maybe this trying to be decent to each other wouldn't be as hard as she thought.

Giles knocked again and when nobody still responded, he sighed.

"Well, I guess Joyce isn't home. Maybe we can figure out an alternative..."

However, footsteps were heard from the inside merely a second later. A voice spoke a second later,

"Whatever you're selling we don't want it. Actually, we're not even at home. This is one of those recorded message thingies."

Willow laughed.

"Come on, stupid, open up, it's us."

A groan was heard from the other side.

"Damn it. I really thought it would work this time." Both kids had by now understood that something was wrong. The voice seemed oddly familiar.

When the door opened, the sight made both of them react in a similar way. They tensed up, their eyes widened and both of them understood that the craziness was far from over.

"So, Red, whatcha..." the woman in the doorway paused, her brown eyes fluttering over the small children. "Babies? Since when do you have babies?"

_"She's, she's, she's,"_ Buffy in Willow's arms gasped out. _"She's you."_

_"Yeah, B, I kinda noticed, given that she looks like me and talks like me and dresses like me... She's more me than friggin' me!"_

"Hey, baby, what's taking so long," another voice could've been heard from the room.

Mini-Faith and Mini-Buffy went even tenser in Willow's arms, but the witch didn't notice, as a blonde came into the view, not wearing much. She wrapped her arms around the brunette, who leant into her slightly, gesturing to the visitors.

"It's Red and G-man and by the look of it, they brought babies."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – Rewritten a little, so the story would... you know flow. Also, this might be my longest chapter to date. I feel proud ^^ If you like it, keep reading!  
Pst: If you can spare a minute of your time, a small review would also be nice. _Juuuust sayin' :D_

**Love, me**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Buffy Summers, the girl who had faced unimaginable horrors ever since she was sixteen, was this close to completely losing it. What-the-hell? After trying to get words out for several seconds, she finally collected herself enough to splutter,

_"She's, she's, she's... There's me and there's you, but... it's not us!"_ She quickly turned to look at the small brunette nearby, who had already leant forward to stare at the adults in the doorway. _"They aren't us, are they?"  
_  
_"They can't be, B,"_ The brunette kid turned to give her a classical 'duh' look. _"We're us. They're probably some fucking demonic carbon copies or something."  
_

"_But we disappeared!" _Buffy was completely lost as she opened her mouth and closed it. _"And they're here. Oh my god. Where's my mom? Faith, what if they did something!" _She paused, as Willow's laugh passed over her. _"And – and it's you. I mean it's not you, but in a way it is, and Willow's laughing? Where did the 'Faith equals grrr' go?"_

The blonde stared at her companion, who could only shrug in response. It's not like Faith had any idea what the hell was going on either. As a matter of fact, ever since the metal thing threw her here, nothing had quite made sense anymore.

Having gotten no response, Buffy kept going, still not able to grasp anything.

_"Look! They're all smiling at each other, like nothing's wrong! And I'm practically naked! Not me me, but the fake me - not that I'm very dressed either but the replacement me is almost naked on purpose and I don't..."_

Faith threw her head back, then remembering where she was, she pulled her head quickly away from Willow's chest and spoke,

"_Stop the ramblin', B. You'll make Red jealous with your uber ramblin' skills and all."  
_  
Willow started to move, but the kids were obvious to that, still arguing.  
_  
"Well, you can't say this is normal?"_ Buffy asked, tone full of incredulity, _"There are us, who are not really us, prancing around, pretending that they were us. And nobody seems to notice and you're, you're..." _the small kid looked up at the adult version of Faith, _"You're not very dressed either, are you? The fake you. I mean... Actually I don't know what I mean? How can I..."_

_"B, shut the hell up,"_ The brunette groaned, _"You're makin' my ears hurt."_

Buffy took a calming breath.

"_Okay, calm. I'm calm. I'm the damn centrepiece of calmness!"_

"_Yelling kinda goes against being calm, ya know?"_ Faith rolled her eyes at her, warily glancing at their adult selves, who didn't seem to dislike each other nearly as much as she and B did. Weirdest thing was that nobody actually seemed to dislike the adult version of Faith. Giles actually hugged her and Willow grinned and made a joke about her attire. _"This is like a friggin' Twilight zone or something."_

Maybe if she closed her eyes and pinched herself, she'd wake up.

"_There's really a lot going on here that I do not get. Like... the nakedness! What's with the nakedness?"_

Evidentially, being quiet for more ten seconds was way too much for Buffy.

_"You're not cruising past that any time soon, are you?"_ The small brunette sighed, dumping her dreaming theory for now. She glanced up at the Fake-Slayers, taking in her own image in boy shorts and a tank top and the blonde in a similar outfit and added, _"Neither of them is actually naked, you know."_

_"But..."_ small Buffy wildly gestured at the two adults, her T-shirt riding over her thighs as she did so. She quickly blushed scarlet and tugged at her shirt.

_"You have some serious exhibitionist tendencies in you, don't ya?"_ Faith's eyebrow arched as she bit back the smirk that wanted to escape. _"Always knew you were kinda kinky, B_."

_"I'm not... I didn't, I... Shut up," _Buffy squeezed her hands into teeny fists and looked away, her cheeks heating up even more than they had earlier.

The adults at the same time were busy discussing what to do with the two kids. Suddenly, Willow realized that holding up both of them was starting to get tiring so she simply handed the more restless one to Buffy.

Faith to her credit let the exchange happen. However, once it had, she realized many things. First, she was now in the hands of a possibly demonic and likely evil Buffy Summers. Secondly, she was held against the chest of said Buffy Summers. Thirdly, this Buffy Summers only wore a tank top. Period.

Epically weird did not even begin to cover this.

And as the fake-Slayer kept talking to Giles and shifting her own weight, the midget-sized Faith in her hands kept brushing against things she definitely didn't need to be brushing. Especially not as a friggin' toddler. She squared her jaw and kept herself stiff, hands on the blonde's shoulders.

_"I'll fucking pinch her if she moves again."_

It sounded almost as a promise.

_"Right, that'd end well,"_ Buffy, still in Willow's arms, snorted. _"You'd probably end up sprawled on the floor, unconscious, since I as sure as hell wouldn't keep holding a kid that pinches my..."_ she paused, _"You know what."_

Faith turned to give her a look.

"_You have to be kidding me? You're so damn stuck on being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes you can't even say the word boob? Jesus Fucking Christ, B!"  
_  
_"Oh, shut up,"_ Buffy burrowed her face into Willow's left shoulder, slightly annoyed. _"Just because I don't say it, doesn't mean I can't say it. I just have enough class not to say stuff like that to a five-year-old."  
_  
_"Oh, classic B,"_ Faith spoke up_. "When something get's difficult then you just turn your back. Why the fuck am I even surprised?"  
_  
That made Buffy twist back towards her.

"_I turn my back? Yeah, well maybe I do it because I'm half expecting you to stab it! I'm just making stuff easier for you, you know!"_

Immediately, the blonde regretted it. So much about their idea of trying to act half-decent to each other. Then again, with her and Faith, that was asking a little much, wasn't it?  
_  
"You're confusin' us, B. You're the one who likes to stab people!" _Faith's tone was as hurtful as Buffy's had been. _"Remember?"_ she tugged up the top she was wearing and a tiny scar could be seen on the small child's tender flesh. _"With my dagger and all. That added some style to it, don't ya think?"_

_"Don't, don't make me the one to blame,"_ Buffy shook her head, _"I didn't... You, you made me... You shot Angel and I..."_

"Yes, the holy Angel, huh? You almost fuckin' kill me for him and when I wake up, you're not even with the stud anymore. That's true love, B. Really. You changed him for a big Beefstick on the first chance you got, didn't ya?"  
  
_"You don't know what you're talking about, Faith_," the blonde's expression changed from defensive to angry, her tone heated now.

_"So, you're not with that soldier dude, huh?" _The other Slayer just kept going._ "I just got everything mixed up in my little useless brain. Is that fuckin' it?"  
_  
_"No, but,"_ Buffy paused. "_You know what, I don't have to excuse myself in front of you. You're..."_

"Worthless scum, who everybody hates. Yeah, you know what, B? I got that memo a long time ago." Her own hands were curled into fists now, breathing uneven. It took her a moment just to stop her hands from shaking. Then, she sharply looked away._ "Just... you and me... peace... it's never going to work. Not until you get that stick out of your ass."  
_  
_"That stick out –Faith, I am not the one with issues here! _You _tried to kill _me_. _You_ tried to kill my friends and_ you_ went after my mother earlier today! You think I have issues? Maybe you and the Mayor were a good match after all, given that you both are, or in his case were, completely insane!"_

Faith clenched her jaw, but didn't respond otherwise.

_"He probably had it all coming, don't you think. Maybe he deserved to be blown up."_

A small hand grasped the material of the shirt the fake-Buffy was wearing. The woman didn't even notice, involved in a discussion with the people around her.  
_  
"He was a bastard, Faith. Face it, he was probably using you."_

Faith squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to react, like Buffy obviously was expecting her to.__

"He was worthless."

"SHUT UP! JUST FUCKING SHUT UP!" Faith screamed, not even noticing how the hands holding onto her jerked a little,_ "Stop acting like you're so much smarter than me! I'm not stupid, B! I'm not fucking stupid! I knew he was using me, but at least he was willing to pretend he wanted me around. That's more than you ever friggin' did."_

Buffy's eyebrows furrowed,

"_But..."_

"No, don't. Just stop the fucking preaching for once in your life. You never understood did you? I didn't think he cared. I never expected him to. With all the shit I had been through, you really thought I was that naive?"  
_  
"But why?"_ Buffy spoke slowly. It was official now. She really couldn't follow anything anymore.

Faith was quiet though and Buffy had a feeling it would remain so, until they were back to full-size and could kick each other to interact in the way they were used to. Not really wanting that to be the case, she tried to get the brunette to talk to her. Quietly, she went for it,  
_  
"Faith..."_

The younger of the two remained silent. Then, after inhaling slowly, she glanced at the blonde.

_"Because he actually liked having me around, ya know. He might've used me, kept me on his side so he wouldn't have two Slayers against him, but he took care of me. He gave me a cool apartment. You gave me chains and the floor of a mansion. Not much to think about. Chains never were my kinda deal."_

_"That was Wes's and his stupid non-functional peanut sized brain's doing_," The quiet words came after a moment of silence. _"You never really cared about the Mayor?"_

Faith snorted.

"_Whose brain seems to be peanut-sized now?"  
_

Buffy shifted a little in Willow's hand, staring down at the red carpet.

_"I've never really gotten you. We might be the same in a way, but I never - I just don't understand."  
_

"_Don't fret on it, B." _Faith's face went back to being expressionless. "_Nobody does."  
_

**XxXxXxXxXx **

__"I am officially crept out by those two."

"You are not the only one," Buffy agreed with the other Slayer, looking down at the brunette in her arms. "Will, I guess you were right. They really can communicate with each other."

"It seems that they indeed understand each other perfectly," Giles agreed, "And by the sound of it they aren't talking about something meaningless either."

"They've been like this the whole day," Willow added, not sure how she felt about that. "But I still can't figure out why they're dressed like that and how did they end up on that street alone. Nobody lives on those streets anymore."

"Anybody thought about the fact that they could be some demonic spawns, speaking demonic language and concocting evil demonic plans?" Faith spoke, eyeing the kids carefully.

"I think we would've gotten some vibey feelings if they were," Buffy reasoned, not noticing how the brunette in her arms tensed. "Besides this one is just too adorable to be evil. She's just so... cuddly!"

"They are adorable, aren't they?" Willow smiled affectionately.

"Okay, before you two go all mushy here," Faith interrupted, smirking. "Shouldn't we decide what to do with those two runts?"

"Don't call them runts," Buffy slapped her arm gently. "Willow said they understand us."

"Well, then they should also understand that they are in fact little runts," laughing slightly, Faith stepped away from the hand that tried to smack her again. "So we take care of the spawns..." she grinned widely at Willow and Buffy, who both gave her an exasperated look, "What? Didn't say runts, did I? Anyways, we make sure they're fed in the morning and then drop them off at G-man's apartment by noon, right?"

Suddenly there was a loud scream and Buffy, alongside with Willow jumped a little. Giles and Faith quickly turned to stare at the tiny brunette, who was already prattling away in a language they couldn't understand, looking... angry for the lack of better words.

"Uh. Right," Giles nodded slowly, tearing his gaze away from the kid, knowing there wasn't anything they could do without research. "Tomorrow, at my house. That indeed is the plan we shall function by."

"A simple yes would've been good enough, ya know," Faith cheekily grinned at the man, before throwing a wary look at her fellow Slayer and the kid she was holding.

The ex-librarian affectionately smiled, before addressing the redhead.

"I believe we should be going now," he looked at Willow, who nodded.

"Right, here, Faithy, take her," Willow placed the blonde child, who had been quiet and sad looking for a while, into the younger Slayer's arms, despite the reluctance both the kid and the adult showed.

"Stop calling me Faithy!" The woman yelled after the redhead, who turned around and grinned.

"I will if you stop calling me Red," she bargained.

"Never, Red," Faith smirked at her, glancing down at the blonde in her arms. Taken aback by the wide green eyes peering back at her, she missed the way Willow shrugged her shoulders on her way out. She still heard her bid goodbye though,

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Buffy. Faithy."

Then she left the house with Giles.

"Sometimes, I really hate her," Faith glanced at the blonde next to her, who merely smirked at her.

"No, you don't," the older Slayer spoke matter-of-factly, gently shifting the weight of the brunette in her arms. "Where do we even put them? Mom's room?"

"I think she made up the guest room, before she left for her business trip," Faith replied, surprised when the tiny blonde in her arms yawned and laid her head on her shoulder. "There should be enough room for them, considering how tiny they are an' all."

Buffy considered her words, before nodding.

"Sounds good. Come on."

Faith followed the blonde, glancing down at the quiet kid in her arms. It didn't matter how adorable she tried to be. Something had to be up here. Five years old and having very long and seemingly emotional conversations with each other in a language nobody understood? Until they figured out what their deal was, the Slayer wasn't going to let her guard down. Unless she was distracted that was.

Her gaze now on the blonde climbing the stairs, she figured she might as well wait till they actually do something evil, before she went all kickass Slayer on their miniature asses.

_"Oh no. Not stairs! They'll friggin' jump at me and attack! No. NO. ARGH!"_

Even though the air between them was rather cold because of the earlier conversation, Mini-Buffy couldn't help but smile softly at her fellow Slayer's antics. She herself, being smart and all, carefully shifted, and placed her head safely to the crook of the fake-Faith's neck.

Weird.

She even smelled like the real deal.

**XxXxXxXxXx  
**

About ten minutes later the two tiny slayers found themselves together in the guestroom, sharing a bed. Both dressed in way too large T-shirts slash nightgowns. Faith, who was residing at the foot of the bed, suddenly sat up and stared across it.

Even in the dark, Buffy could notice her pained expression. So she too sat up, leaning against the headboard. Faith's eyes narrowed. Then she solemnly spoke,

_"Once I'm taller than a feet, I'm going to friggin kill them twice just for this."  
_

Buffy, having expected a way more serious topic, relaxed and gave the brunette an amused look.

_"It wasn't all that bad."_

Once the fake-them stopped trying to undress them that is and let them handle it like the tiny people with constitutional rights which they were.__

"They took away our clothes. All of them," Faith seethed. "_And did you hear what the bitch said? She might keep them. My best pair of jeans. She wants to keep my jeans." _The brunette made an irritated sound and then let herself fall onto her back. Nothing else was said.

Buffy, just a tad bit disappointed that the conversation seemed to be over – and without any conclusion to what happened downstairs, settled back as well. Maybe it was better if they didn't talk about it. All that seemed to do was start Buffy vs. Faith round_...* insert an excessively large number here.*_

Yet, she couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling she had. After a few minutes of tense silence, she decided to get the heavy and emotional stuff dealt with in one go. It'd be more practical that way, right?

Quietly, she propped herself up on her elbow and glanced at the small form of a girl at the end of the bed.

_"Faith, about earlier,"_ she murmured, sure that the brunette can hear her anyways_. "I'm sorry, you know. I had no right to say that stuff and... just to make sure you know, I don't really hate you."_ Patiently, she waited for a response. It didn't come. She continued anyways,_ "I never have. Don't think I even could."  
_

The silence stretched. Faith may have had fallen asleep even before she begun talking. Buffy sighed softly and turned her gaze onto the wall, only now noticing how drastically the room had changed during the hours they were gone. It took her about a second to get over it.

After everything that had happened, nothing could surprise her anymore. Especially not a room changing colours and furniture without her knowing about it.

_"You should."_

For a split-second, Buffy thought that it meant she should be surprised by the room, but then the real meaning of the words finally registered. She slowly turned her head. Faith was still laying on her back, her hands now resting behind her head as she stared straight at the ceiling. A moment later, the brunette quietly added to her previous statement.  
_  
"Would be easier for both of us."_

Buffy's response was automatic, no hesitation present.  
_  
"No it wouldn't."_ Now the hesitation presented itself. _"Unless you really hated me."_

Thanks to her propped up position it was easy to see Faith roll her tongue over her front teeth as she seemingly contemplated her response. It didn't take long.  
_  
"Have no reason to."_

__The words sounded honest and Buffy didn't find herself doubting them. Unable to look at the other girl anymore for some odd reason, she let her eyes land on the edge of the blanket. Silence reigned over the room once more.

_"What happened?"_ She could feel Faith's eyes on her, but this time she was the one avoiding all eye contact altogether. _"We used to get along. All those patrols we went on together, nights on the Bronze... The Chosen Two? What happened?"_

_"Cliff notes? I went psycho," _Faith's tone was almost matter-of-factly, her gaze locked on the blonde Slayer. "_Took the easy way out of a crappy sitch like I'm used to. Then did some pretty fucked up stuff and got myself stabbed."_

__Buffy, still refusing to look up, bit her lip. She remembered that night on the roof. The fight, the adrenaline. Every punch she threw, every kick she had to endure. The expression on Faith's face when the knife slid in. The warmth of blood. She hated the memory, hated it. Yet, she never forgot. Probably never would.

_"I'm sorry."_  
_  
"Not your fault,"_ Faith was still looking at her, the blonde could feel it even without looking back at the other girl. _"Don't start to pity me now or something retarded like that, 'kay?"_

"I'm not," Buffy finally glanced backat the younger girl. It was amazing how well she could see the other girl in the dark._ "I'm not pitying you. It's just that here we are. Two former friends, then almost archenemies... now naked, sharing a bed, while being stuck in our five-year-old bodies unable to communicate with nobody but each other. It helps, you know, to put stuff into perspective."  
_

Slowly, Faith smiled. It had been a long while since Buffy had been subjected to the dimples she was seeing now. It felt nice.  
_  
"Kinda does, doesn't it,"_ the brunette agreed. _"But I bet you've been thinkin' about this for a while, eh, B?"_

_"About what?" _the blonde peered at her curiously.__

"Ya know, me and you, in a bed, all hot and bothered," Faith wiggled her eyebrows, then stopped to add,_ "Only we would've been slightly taller, right? Because if not, you're seriously kinky."  
_

For a moment Buffy could only blink at the brunette, completely taken back by the innuendo. Then she sniggered, unable not to. The small glimpse of the old Faith – Faith before everything went all bad – was great. In a way.

"_Do you have a one-tracked mind or what?"_

"Well..." Faith paused, frowning_. _She glanced towards the door to the room. _"Do you...?"_

The footsteps got louder._  
_  
Both of the Mini Slayers hurriedly lay back on the bed, attempting to appear asleep. The door creaked open. Somebody approached the bed. Perhaps the demons were now ready to have a later night snack.

The irony of dying by being eaten by _herself_ made Buffy clutch her fist under the blanket. She was ready to take that demon on, miniature or not. However, when the blanket around her was merely pulled more over her, her fists relaxed.

Everything was okay. The demon was just tucking her in.

She really had no words to express the weirdness that was today.

Faith was also tucked in, but the unknown figure did not leave – to the Mini Slayers eternal disappointment. Finally, unable to resist, Faith cracked open one eye very carefully to find out what the heck was going on.

It was Buffy. Well, the demon, who was pretending to be Buffy and well, Faith had to admit that she was doing a spectacular job at it. Even with the real Buffy in bed with her, the brunette still had to tell herself twice that this one was fake.

The demon glanced towards her and Faith froze, not sure if her eyes were open too much. Luckily for her, they didn't seem to be, as the look-a-like merely exhaled and wrapped her arms around her.

Then, she looked up and a small grin appeared on her lips just for a second.

The Slayers in the bed heard it too. Footsteps, again.

The door to the room slid open once more and fake-Faith stepped in. Still dressed in just a top and shorts, she too approached the bed. However, unlike the blonde, she didn't seem to care much about the tiny people in the bed.

Instead, she came to stand behind fake-Buffy, placing her arms around the shorter woman.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," the blonde demon pretending to be a blonde Slayer softly replied, not even reacting to the overly familiar touch.

Faith, who had noticed them do the same earlier in the hallway, concluded that they were just rather touchy feely demons. Probably friends or something.

With contempt, the tiny brunette watched her own body shift behind fake-Buffy. The darker fake-Slayer sighed and placed her chin on Buffy's shoulder.

"Thought you were going to bed," the blonde spoke, placing her hands on the ones around her waist.

"I got lonely."

The real Faith in the bed bit back a groan, when Buffy's foot jerked under the blanket and hit her calf. Stupid Slayer strength. But she too had been caught off-guard. Then again, she might've been misreading things – something she seemed to be quite able at lately.

Carefully she glanced back at the couple. Her other eye opened as well, as she blinked a few times. The sight in front of her was too much to handle, coming out of the blue like this and practically smacking her in the face.

The last image she had ever expected to see was one of herself making moves on Buffy Summers. And yet, there it was. The fake-Faith was casually sliding her hands underneath the tiny tank top, while her lips ghosted over the skin on Buffy's neck.

Fake-Buffy, Faith reminded herself. Fake.

However the soft murmur of content the blonde releases doesn't seem fake.

Almost unwillingly, Faith closes her eyes. She feels like she shouldn't be watching this, being that the whole thing was fucking confusing already as it was.

But when the unmistakable sound of kissing reached her ears, she couldn't stop herself. In less than a second, the image of herself kissing Buffy Summers was clearly etched into her brain.

"There are kids in the house, Faith."

It was unbelievable just how much like Buffy's _'it's wrong tone'_ that sentence sounded like. Why would they even keep up the facade anymore, though?

"Whose fault is that?" the other woman whispered, tugging on the tiny cloth the blonde had on. "I can be quiet. Can you, B?"

There was a small moment of silence. The Slayers in the bed held their breath. The fake ones nearby stared directly at each other.__

"Is that a challenge?" Buffy _–_ fake one, Faith had to remind herself once more- murmured. Slowly, her own hands slid to the brunette's hips and she grinned. "Because I remember someone losing something like this just days ago."

"You got lucky, B."__

"The louder one makes breakfast_," _Buffy placed a lingering kiss on Faith's lips and then grabbed her hand. Together they left the room, but before the door closed with a click, the Slayers in the bed still heard the start of the next sentence.

"Then get out your spatula, B, 'cause I'm going to make you..."

For a while, silence reigned over the room. Neither of them had any idea what to say or do.

_"For the record, I found that very disturbing," _Faith finally spoke up after a minute or so. _"And those, those weren't really us. Just some... demons."_

_"Right,"_ a small voice responded. "_Demons. Gotta remember that."_

_"Yeah."_

_"This day can't get any weirder."  
_  
"Oh god, Faith!"

_"Never say that. Never."_  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – Okay, trying to actually start a storyline here. Let's see if it works. Anyways, thanks for your reviews. Can't even express how great you guys make me feel ^^ All appreciated and stuff. Thanks. **Seriously.**

Love, me.  



	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

She carefully studied the girl looking right back at her, a soft frown on her lips.

Well, to be completely honest, she actually _liked_ some things about her.

For example, she liked the casual white T-shirt, which seemed to fit her perfectly. She liked the faded jeans she was wearing and damn it, the tennis shoes were pretty cute too.

Now, if only there was a teenager in them instead of an endearing little midget-like person.

Buffy pursed her lips and continued to glare daggers at her reflection. Then, finally understanding that the scary look she was attempting completely failed in a package this adorable, she just groaned at the mirror and turned away.

"_Still pissed off at the mirror?"_ The question was accompanied by a yawn.

Buffy glanced towards the bed, before huffing.

_"Not at the mirror. At the demons. You know, they are really breaking all sorts of rules now."_****

Faith's eyes, previously on something random, fluttered to her. Her head perched on her hands, brown curls in disarray, she lazily arched an eyebrow.  
_  
"Wait... There are rules now?"_

_"Come on. Look at us," _Buffy turned towards her, gesturing to her outfit. _"We're wearing clothes. New clothes. Our clothes. Or well, clothes in our size. And see,"_ she sat down next to Faith on the bed and lifted up her feet so the brunette could have them on her eye-level. _"New shoes. They got us new shoes."_

She lowered her feet and fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"_Which kind of demon does that?"_

"_Evidentially the ones who go undercover as hot chicks with superpowers_," Faith dryly interjected. _"But you'd rather have them try to eat us and our hearts and dance around our tiny dead bodies like regular demons, huh?"_

"_It would make things less confusing, wouldn't it, though?"_  
_  
_Faith, never being the one to wake up before noon without a damn good reason, let her eyes slide closed, as she smirked.__

"Maybe they're just lil slow on the uptake, ya know? Haven't got around to readin' the 'Guidebook for being Evil' yet."

"_Yes, Faith, please do just mock me, while I slowly go crazy here."_

"_That's why I'm here."_

Buffy sighed over-dramatically. Then she turned her head to look at the brunette.

"_So, did you dream of an extra-uber-awesome plan while you slept?"_

Eyes still closed, Faith admitted,

"Nope, dreamt of dancing carrots actually." She yawned and glanced at her for just a second. "You?"

"_Nothing. Nada. Zip." _The older of the two glanced down at herself. "I still have issues with this, but at least now when I'm back to normal, I won't be so disappointed with the size of my boobies."

This time Faith laughed. It wasn't a short guffaw either. The blonde could actually feel the bed shake under her as the waves of laughter rolled over the brunette next to her. When the brunette turned towards her, her brown eyes were wide open and the grin on her face was nothing short of infectious.

"_Only you could get away with sayin' the word boobies with dignity."_

"_I have skills,"_ Buffy agreed, a grin creeping on her face as well.

"_True that. Although, to be completely honest, as a person should be..." Faith_ spoke, the look of amusement contradicting with the seriousness of her tone, _"...The size of your rack is pretty much the same now as it was before your change."_

It took a moment – after all, she was blonde, you know – before Buffy let out a loud 'Hey'. By that time, Faith was chuckling again. She stopped quickly though, because a loud noise interrupted her.

A sheepish look on her face, she turned towards the blonde.

"_Hungry, aren't you?" _Buffy asked, glancing down at the Slayer's midsection.

"_Starving actually. The food to coma patients must really suck." The _words were out there before she even really thought about them. Then again, she usually never bothers to, but right now, she wished she had made an exception for once.

Buffy's face had fallen and her own heart had dropped.

She quickly spoke.

"_Come on, let's go find the wanna-be us. Maybe they'll keep messing up the demon part and actually feed us. Or feed on us, if you're lucky and they've started to behave like they're supposed to."_

She hated herself a little for doing this yet again. Automatically trying to make sure the blonde was happy with her. Dancing after her fuckin' song, doing whatever the blonde needed just to feel like she was worthy.

And she completely loathed herself when she felt like it was totally worth it the moment the blonde flashed a grateful smile her way before sliding off the bed.

"_I'm willing to take those chances,"_ Buffy spoke, rasping her jeans. _"How about you? Ready to risk it?"_

Faith pushed herself up and flung her feet over the edge of the feet. Eyes on Buffy, she nodded.

"_Gamblin' has always been my thing."_

**XxXxXxXxXx**

The two of them bounded down the stairs and entered the kitchen warily. In true ninja fashion, they scurried around the corner and peeked over the table in front of them.

The moment Faith understood what she was seeing, her eyes widened, her heartbeat quickened and she was sure some of her hair stood up on her head.

_"Oh. My. God." _Buffy squealed next to her, staring at the sight in the kitchen. Barely a second later, she giggled. _"You're so adorable!"_

_"That's not me!"_ Faith snapped, her eyes regaining focus. _"I mean, I'm not... I'd never... B, I... It's.. Fucking demon! I hate that demon! Look, look, she's tainting my body... with PINK!"_

Buffy smiled at her five-year-old companion, as she patted her shoulder.

_"We will survive."_

_"B!"_ Faith slapped her hand away, very much aware that it was the song her demon-self was humming. _"Hey! You! We're here! Stop singing! STOP!_" She yelled and waved her hands towards her larger self, who immediately stopped singing and froze on her spot. She then warily glanced over her shoulder, grinning in relief when she noticed the two children.

"Hey, runts," she waved them towards the table. "Thought you were Red for a moment there. Never woulda lived that down." She grinned, even though a wary look remained in her eyes. "C'mon, sit down." The look of surprise was obvious on her face as the kids climbed onto the stools without a question, the blonde one struggling slightly to get on it.

"You're wicked smart for your age, aren't ya?"

Little Faith found it impossible to drag her eyes away from that pink apron, while Buffy found her eyes glued at the girl's face. Had Faith always looked so radiantly happy?

No, she reminded herself, it's not Faith, but a demon. A demon, who just happened to look as hot as Faith.

Buffy's train of thoughts came to a screeching halt. Had she just thought that Faith was hot? No! No she wasn't. Or well... she is, but Buffy was not supposed to notice.

The blonde huffed out loud. Stupid demons were making her go officially insane.

She looked at the brunette next to her and was forced to admit that she didn't make her any saner. In fact, the real Faith was almost as confusing as the demons. For a while Buffy had managed to forget about Faith and the night she had stabbed her. She didn't wonder what could've happened if she had acted different nor had any nightmares about the blood on her hands. Then Faith came back.

Buffy had been ready for anything. Surprise attack, dirty notes, even being stabbed while she slept. But this... this counted as something from outside the small box she had named anything. This she **really** had not expected.

In the meanwhile, Faith, the demon, kept grinning at them, as she poured some orange juice. Well, after what Buffy heard last night, maybe she did have a reason to beam.

Blushing slightly at her train of thoughts, Buffy looked down at the table. _"Faith?"_

_"Faith?"_

_"Huh?"_ The brunette dragged her eyes away from the apron, fighting the sudden urge to grab it, light it and make a fucking bonfire so she could watch it burn, while she jumped around it, laughing like a maniac.

_"What is it?"_ She asked, looking at the girl next to her. The blonde smiled.

_"I was just..."  
_  
"I'm ba-a-a-ck!" A voice was heard from the doorway. Three heads turned. "Well I got the Eyes of Newt and the weird Lupe-thingy." A small bag was placed onto the counter. "I can't believe I went out to get them and ended up with clothes and groceries but no ingredients. Am I a spaz or what?"

"Yup, you're definitely a spaz, B," Faith grinned, as Buffy stuck out her tongue at her. "Hey, stop setting a bad example for the runts."

Buffy glanced at the table for the very first time. "Aw, they look so cute! Willow's going to be all over them."

_"I'm not cute!"_ The miniature Faith replied, harrumphing and folding her hands over her chest, suddenly very much aware that two thirds of the occupants of the room didn't even understand her. The one who did however, smiled.

_"Yeah, you are."_

_"I am?"_ Faith, slightly surprised, turned to look at the blonde, _"Since when am I cute?"'_

_"Since you started to wear shirts with little red cartoon dragons on it,"_ Buffy teased, _"And the big chocolate deer eyes work for you better now. And the whole short-as-a garden-gnome thing - total cute factor. So, yeah, you're cute as a bunny!"  
_  
Faith did the mature thing and smacked the blonde over her head. Laughing, the blonde dodged the next time she tried.

"Being cute is definitely over-rated," the demon version of Faith spoke, looking at the adult Buffy, who was trying to sneak a tomato slice into her mouth. She grinned guiltily when she noticed she wasn't as stealthy as she had hoped to be and to divert attention from that, she too resorted to teasing.

"Speaks the hottie in the pink apron. Hello, cute much?"

"You just pulled a Queen C's Hello quote on me," Faith waved her spatula pretending to be menacing. Needless to say that in that apron it just did not work. "Shame on ya, B."

"Sorry," Buffy apologized, smiling as she plopped down behind the table, "Just hungry as hell here. So what's for breakfast, Chef Lehane?"

"I made... cereal!" Faith exclaimed. "Yup, good ol' healthy cereal."

"Cereal?" Not that I have a problem with cereal or anything... But cereal... I could eat a horse and you're giving me cereal? You are evil! Evil, I tell you!"

Faith laughed, as she placed two bowls in front of the two kids.

"It's for the runts, B. I mean, I'm not familiar with kids or anything, but I don't think they eat eggs and bacon in the Slayer-way yet, do they?"

Buffy expression changed, as she leant back into her chair.

"No, probably not. I, however..." she beamed even more, as Faith rolled her eyes good-naturedly, pulling a plate full of steaming food out of nowhere. "God, how I love these."

The kids in the meantime eyed their food carefully.

_"Maybe it's poisoned,"_ Buffy whispered, looking at the two demons, who were now laughing about something.

_"I was so afraid you were going to say that,"_ Faith placed her spoon onto the table with a small clink and a sigh_. "I'm starvin' here_, B._ Really."  
_  
_"So am I,"_ Buffy agreed, "_But_ _we can't be too cautious. They're sneaky demons, here. Sneaky!"_

_"Yeah,"_ Faith stared the cereal with longing_, "But,"_ she looked up, _"They're draggin' us to the old man at noon. Poisonin' us before that would be retarded. Besides, why bother poisonin' teeny tiny kids. They could just smack us over the head and be done with it."_

Buffy seemed to weigh the idea. Then her stomach rumbled, deciding for her. The fact that the demon-Buffy poured herself some milk from the carton demon-Faith had poured milk on their cereals was also encouraging. With that in mind, the mini-Slayers dug in.

_"Faith,"_ Buffy spoke quietly after a few minutes_, "Uh, you remember that deal, the one they," _she pointed across the table at the adult versions of them_, "made about noise and cooking?"_

_"Ya mean the agreement, that happened before the thing which never happened and that we never heard and thus never ever talk about?"_

_"Yeah," _Buffy stared into her bowl of cereal._ "It never happened."_

There was a pause and quietness followed. Faith broke it by sighing.

"_C'mon, whatcha wanted to ask, B?"_

The blonde laughed nervously. _"Why do you think I wanted to ask anything?" _ At the no-shit-Sherlock look she got from Faith, she rubbed the back of her neck, looking embarrassed.

"_Well, if they're like... following that... agreement... then, uh, why is the fake you cooking? I mean,"_ she pointed her spoon towards the fake-Buffy_, "she was louder, wasn't she?"  
_  
_"Oh, trust me, B,"_ Faith stirred her cereals viciously, _"You missed the louder parts."  
_  
_"What? How's that possible? I couldn't fall asleep for an hour!"  
_  
_"Yeah,"_ Buffy was surprised to see a small blush on Faith's cheeks. _"You missed the loud parts."_

**Meanwhile**

"I'm telling you, B, something's not right with them," Faith whispered, as the two of them surveyed the kids.

"Oh c'mon they're so adorable," Buffy replied, "They can't be evil."

"You've been the Slayer for what? Six fucking years? And you think the rule of evilness is being cute?" Faith asked, stunned.

"Well no, but Faith, they are kids. And I'm not getting any buzz from them. And would you stop cursing?"

"C'mon, you know you like it, B," The brunette smirked, when Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well..."  
**  
(*Smack*)  
**  
"Did she just hit the other one?" Buffy paused. "Wait, is she blushing and why is the brunette laughing now and holding up three fingers?"

"Beats me," Faith drank some milk, looking at the kids. "Okay, that cannot be normal," she paused, looking at the blonde who was now pelting the brunette with her spoon.

"Willow will know what to do," Buffy reasoned, "Willow knows kids. She'll do the spells and stuff and then we'll understand them and... what the hell..."

The tiny brunette had lunged at the blonde and the kids had toppled off the chairs hitting the floor with a loud bang. Quickly, the two Slayers hurried to the other side of the counter, just to find the blonde on top of the brunette one. It took them a moment to realize both kids were laughing.

"What did I tell you? Not normal," Faith pried the blonde off the brunette and picked her up, while Buffy took the other girl. "When's noon?"

"In two hours," Buffy replied, looking at the girl in her arms, who was still laughing and saying things neither of the adults understood. The blonde in Faith's arms seemed to though, because she was once again gaining a scarlet hue.  
_  
"I can't ... This is just too much," _Faith gasped out, giggling like hell and not giving a damn. _"He's a soldier! Shouldn't he, you know, last!"  
_  
_"Shut up,"_ Buffy groaned_. "I shouldn't have said anything. Stupid Buffy! Oh, c'mon, would you please stop laughing now?" _

_"I'm sorry,"_ Faith took a deep breath, then burst out laughing again, _"I'm trying. I just... can't. No wonder you seemed to be so surprised when I told you how long those two..."_ she chuckled again, leaning back.

Buffy felt a grin tug on her lips at the sight. Faith was in the arms of the grown Buffy, wearing her incredibly cute clothes, her wide brown eyes full of laughter and looking more relaxed than ever. That might also be the reason why the brunette wasn't noticing the place she had supported her head on.

Before she could stop herself, Buffy too giggled.

_"This is just..."_  
_  
"I know," _Faith laughed. _"It's totally..."_

_"Totally,"_ Buffy bit her lip not to laugh when Faith leant even more back, but she couldn't keep up the self control and soon was laughing along with the brunette.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure there's an inside joke here," Buffy answered as she and Faith moved into the living room, carrying the two kids.

"Ya think?" Faith asked back, grinning, as the blonde in her hands spoke something between fits of laughter. "They seem to be high on somethin' if you ask me."

Suddenly the kid in Buffy's arms jerked away from her with such power that Buffy almost dropped her. Luckily, her reflexes kicked in and she managed to balance the small kid before she went toppling out of her hold.

"What was that about?" Faith asked, placing the blonde into the armchair. The girl proceeded to laugh, even harder than before. A moment later Buffy placed the small midgetlike brunette there too.

"I don't know," she replied, shrugging. "She just moved really suddenly." The older Slayer glanced at her girlfriend, before looking back at the kids. The now angry-looking brunette was poking the blonde, who was still giggling. "Okay, do you think it's safe to put them there together? I mean, they seem to be a little violent."

"But they're so cute!" Faith mimicked Buffy's tone of voice and wide eyes. "Surely they cannot be violent!"

"Oh shut up you," Buffy plopped down onto the couch, pulling Faith next to her, before she grabbed the remote from the table. "We have about two hours to spend. So what do you want to watch?"

She kept surfing the channels, until Faith stopped her. She frowned at the brunette.

"Come on, we have seen this episode like three times."

"But it's classic and look, it's a marathon." The brunette plucked the remote from her hands and placed it out of the blonde's reach. When she made a move for it, she grabbed hold of her arm. "Leave it."

Buffy looked back at her, before she smiled.

"I created a monster," she declared, before relaxing her arm and snuggling closer to the other girl, who smirked in recognition and leant back into the couch to watch the show. The blonde threw a look at the kids, making sure they weren't doing something completely insane, before she too relaxed.

Back in the armchair, things were far from peaceful. Faith was nudging and poking the blonde, who kept giggling.__

"Stop laughing," the younger of the two demanded, folding her arms over her chest. Her companion just shook her head, unable to do as Faith had asked.

Irritated, the brunette huffed and plopped down, pretending to watch the TV. Buffy calmed down then, took a deep breath, and after that placed her very tiny hand on the brunette's shoulder.  
_  
"I'm sorry," _she offered with a small smile once Faith finally acknowledged her. _"C'mon, back to truce?"  
_  
She reached out her right hand. Faith sighed, but clasped it with her own anyways and they shook them.

_"Truce,"_ the brunette repeated. She then shifted back towards the TV. _"So, do you know what show that is?" _

Buffy turned towards the screen, a smile appearing on her face. Then, a look of disbelief appeared on it instead, as she turned back to the brunette.

_"You've never seen Charmed?"_

"No?"

"_Never?"_

"_I do have smarter shit to do than just sit around and watch TV, ya know?"_ Faith spoke, annoyed.

"_But it's Charmed! It's like the best show ever," _the blonde shifted a little closer to her, as she lifted up her hand. _"See, that's Prue. She's the oldest of the three sisters, who are the best witches of our time. She has telekinesis."_

The two of them watched the whole episode, during which Buffy kept catching Faith up to speed with things. By the time the second episode rolled around, the brunette was already engrossed in the storyline.

She was leaning over the armrest of the chair, a large frown on her face as she watched the lady she didn't even like all that much, get stabbed.

"_Oh fuck you!" _

When something brushed against her back, she stiffened for a moment. She turned to look, not at all surprised when she found out it was Buffy. However, what did surprise her was that the blonde was looking quite drowsy.

"_You okay?"_

"_Yeah, I've just seen this episode like three times at least_," the blonde smiled, yawning. _"And it's an awesome episode, but still."_

"Fuck you, bastard."

The Mini Slayers turned towards the couch, when Faith's angry voice – the demon's – rang over the room. Both of them were quite taken aback, and to be honest, slightly weirded out, by the sight they saw now.

Faith saw the creepy kids turn towards her, but her attention was quickly diverted to something more pleasant. A hot gust of air that caressed her neck actually before soft words reached her ears.

"Mm, I'm sleepin' here."

She grinned sheepishly and placed a kiss on the forehead of the blonde, who was practically draped over her.

"Sorry, B. Go back to sleep."

"Plannin' to," Buffy whispered, shifting closer to the brunette, who tightened her hold on her. "I'm so tired."

"Sorry for keepin' ya up last night."

A soft chuckle.

"I'm not," Buffy placed an innocent kiss on her neck. "Now shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

Faith kept her arm around the blonde's waist, as her eyes went back to the screen. Almost unconsciously, her fingers started to draw random shapes on the bare skin on Buffy's navel. It was a habit, she didn't think anything of it.

The two kids on the couch however...

The small blonde bit her lip as she turned away from the sight, feeling like an intruder. Which by itself was weird, because one of those people was her. Technically at least. And the other one was... Faith.

She shook herself mentally and opened her mouth. The brunette next to her was faster though.

"I'm wishin' they'd start with the demon stuff too now."

"I told you that would be less confusing," the blonde whispered, sneaking another peek at the pair on the couch. "I just don't even begin to..."

"Yeah, me neither."

The two of them fell into an uncomfortable silence as they turned their eyes back to the TV. Their attention and thoughts however remained on something completely different.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

A/N – Thanks for reading, people!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**  
_  
"The entire friggin' booby gang has lost their minds!"_ Faith spoke, staring up at the adults, who had surrounded her and Buffy, both of whom were** still** looking like five-year-olds. And already, having only been at Giles' place for about half an hour, Faith was starting to accept the fact that it was never going to change! Ever! Especially since everybody around them was acting like a bunch of weirdoes on crack!

_"Don't call them the booby gang," _Buffy replied defensively, shrinking back slightly as Xander leant closer to coo at her. By doing that, she accidentally backed into Willow's legs. The redhead instantly grinned.

"See, she likes me more than you! Aren't you a smart little baby! Who's a smart little baby?" Willow's hands moved towards her. Buffy, afraid of another round of cheek pinching, squealed and hid herself behind Faith.

_"Really brave of you, B. Your Slayer courage is impressive_," Faith mocked her, tapping her small foot against the floor, while glaring at Willow and Xander.  
_  
"Seriously, why the fuck can't they be like her? That blonde chick over there..."_

_"Anya,"_ Buffy helpfully added.

_"Yeah, Anya,"_ Faith nodded, tugging on her dragon T-shirt. _"At least she's not acting like a fuckin' mental patient."_

The small blonde smiled at the sight of the ex-vengeance demon, who was happily humming, sitting as far as possible from the two mini slayers and flipping through the channels of the big soap box Giles called his TV.

"You are so cute," Willow grinned toothily at the children. "Really, really cute."

_"Yeah, we get that,"_ Faith snapped_. "So, moving on..."  
_  
"They really are adorable," Tara agreed, also smiling, but less largely than Willow was.

_"Wait, who was she again?"_ Faith glanced at Buffy, who had given up and sat onto the ground with a thud.

_"Tara, Willow's witch friend,"_ she replied. Faith nodded, absorbing the information.

_"So, what,"_ she sat down next to Buffy, while gesturing at Tara, Willow and Xander, who was now making stupid faces at them. _"We we're brought here just so we could vomit at 'em?" _

Snorting, her blonde nemesis slash companion shook her head.

_"At least we're not stuck with the weirdness that is those two,"_ she tilted her head towards Giles and the fake versions of themselves. The Faith and Buffy, who looked normal and all adult-y, compared to them. But the real Buffy and Faith knew that they were fake, since well, they were the real Buffy and Faith, even if they were small on the moment. Duh.

Also the fake Faith and Buffy happened to do things, weird things, which real Buffy and Faith never ever would do. I.e – make out.

_"I think they're doing something important,"_ Buffy continued. Indeed, the two fake slayers and Giles seemed to be having a fierce conversation, which included a lot of gesturing from all of them. _"Maybe once they get over with it, we might get back to normal."_  
_  
"Maybe and might,"_ Faith pondered the choice of words the blonde had used_. "I see you're finally seeing the beautiful reality of ours."_

_"Yeah, I'm seeing stuff alright," _Buffy frowned as Xander rolled his eyes a lot and made rather horrendous movements with his tongue. _"Starting to wish I didn't though."_

_"That would make two of us,"_ Faith replied, closing her eyes to keep herself from getting traumatized for life_. "I mean, are they so daft they can't take a hint at all? We're nowhere fuckin' near to smiling because they're acting like big brainless baboons on crack." _

A small giggle escaped the other child. _"Big brainless baboons on crack. That's a good one."_

_"B!"_

_"What?"_ The blonde looked at Faith, who gestured at Xander, who was now grinning widely, thinking he still got the funny touch. Willow was still smiling at them, but luckily she had decided to back off a bit with Tara, leaving only Xander looming over the children. He however continued being 'funny'.

As she looked up at one of her closest friends, Buffy could only think of one thing to say. She gave Faith a guilty look and spoke,

_"Oops?"_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," A voice could suddenly be heard. All attention was turned to adult Faith, who walked into the area of the living room. "We get it."

"Still, you can't say we didn't do anything," Buffy, the fake one, protested. "I mean I got them clothes and ... and we fed them and stuff."

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You were supposed to try and communicate with them. What did you do last night?"

Faith – The Evil not Slayer but Demon – coughed. "We were training."

"Really? Well, good. Then you can take care of this nest of slime demons right now, while Willow tries to help the small ones," Giles answered.

Faith's face fell. "Slime demons?"

"Giles," Buffy begun.

"Off you go then," Giles waved towards the door.

"Fine," Buffy's nose was wrinkled in disgust. "But if any of those slime demons explode anywhere near me..."

"C'mon, B, let's motorvate, before you say something wro-o-ong," The brunette slayer nudged the blonde one, quickly stepping away after it, as if anticipating a hit. Buffy merely grinned and raised her eyebrow.

"Jumpy much?"

Faith narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something. Then she changed her mind and closed it, snaking a hand around the blonde's waist instead. "C'mon, we have to get out of here, before G-man get's all Britishly pissed with us and does that clucking noise again."

"Point taken," Buffy grinned. "Bye guys."

A round of byes could be heard as the couple left the house. A indignified cry from Giles could be heard a moment later. "I do not do a clucking noise!"

"Um, yeah, you do, G-man," Xander patted the old man's shoulder compassionately.

"I do not," Giles looked at Willow for support. The redheaded witch smiled guiltily.

"Well, you see, I was kinda the one who discovered the meaning of the clucking noise in the first place, so yeah, I do too think you do the clucking noise." All this was said very fast.

"Fine," Giles huffed. "Let's just try that translation spell."

_"Finally," _The little brunette kid on the floor sighed happily. Both of the mini slayers had surveyed the scene carefully, only managing to get a bit more confused. Do demons slay demons? Or were they pretending?

Anyhow, they didn't have a lot of time to ponder about this, because Willow once again crouched down to their level, smiling. Tara joined her side and together they put some kind of a crystal between the two girls.

_"Okay, I know I've been gone for a long time, but has Red like... advanced from her floating pencils phase?"_ Faith looked warily at the blonde next to her. _"'Cause not that I'm afraid or anything, but should she be casting spells at us?"_

_"Oh, Willow's way past floating stuff,"_ Buffy smiled reassuringly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she spoke. _"I totally trust her and her magic."  
_  
The brunette in her little jeans and black t-shirt didn't look very convinced as the redhead begun to chant. Buffy smiled again, as she stepped closer and slid her hand into the small brunette's.  
**  
**Surprised, Faith's eyebrow arched slightly as she looked at their joined hands. Buffy however was too busy looking at the two witches nearby to notice.

_"It'll be okay,"_ she spoke, totally convinced. _"I trust her completely."__**  
**_**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

_"WAAAAH!"_ Buffy ran as fast as her tiny feet allowed, hiding behind the armchair nearby. _"Don't let her come near me!"_

She warily peeked out to see if her best friend was still trying to get her.

It was horrible. So far they hadn't done any progress. **NONE! **The only results of the constant witchcraft were horrible. Not only had Buffy been turned into a piglet, given freakishly big feet and turned pink all over, but she had also been totally bald for a whole minute! BALD!

And while Buffy had found Faith's baldness completely hilarious, her own hairless situation was nowhere near as funny. So as soon as Willow reversed the latest spell, the Mini Slayers escaped for their lives.

She loved her best friend dearly, but enough was enough!

Faith, ducking behind the big stack of books nearby, suddenly peeked out so she could give the blonde an evil eye.

_"You completely trust her, huh_?" She hissed, not looking very happy.

Buffy scowled, but remained quiet.

Giles, cleaning his glasses, survived as a tiny brunette head peeked over his ancient tomes, giving all of the adults a not so friendly look. Actually, Giles would have been quite intimidated by the look, hadn't the girl giving it be so adorable.

"Well, that didn't work," Willow pointed out the obvious. "Maybe another one?"

"Will, no offence, but," Xander tried gently, "Maybe you should, um, try a different approach?"

"What?" The redhead asked, .

"He's hinting that your magical help sucks," Anya helpfully spoke, not looking away from the TV.

A little snigger could be heard from the big stacks of books nearby.

"My magic does not suck!" Willow objected. "It's just not working! I mean, it should work and those spells, they were just translation spells, but they do wrong things. And ... and it's not my fault they don't work, because they should! Shouldn't they?" She looked at Tara. "Right? I'm using the spells right, aren't I?"

The blonde witch smiled, as she placed a comforting hand on Willow's back. "Yes. You're doing everything great."

Willow smiled back at her. Xander cleared his throat.

"Will, nobody doubts your mojo or anything. I'm just saying that maybe you should like, take a break or something, 'cause the midgets are, um, slightly scared."

_"Fucking freaked is more like it, isn't it, B?"_ Faith rolled her eyes. She turned to look towards the blonde slayer and then noticed an important fact. Buffy was not behind the couch anymore.

_"B?"_ She looked around, ignoring the adults for the time being. _"B, where the..."  
_  
_"Hey." _

Faith almost jumped into the air, as someone tugged on her t-shirt. Of course, she'd never admit it, but Buffy had scared the hell out of her.

_"What?"_ She turned around, so she could look at the blonde.

Buffy was staring at her shoes, her hands behind her back. Her legs were crossed slightly and there seemed to be a pink hue to her cheeks.

Buffy looked at her, before looking down again.

_"I need to pee."_

A moment of slience.

_"Oookay."_

Buffy looked at her, annoyed. _"I really have to go."_

Faith, unable to see the problem, asked.

"_What? Do you need me to hold your hand or something?"_

The blonde shifted from one foot to another.  
_  
"I can't reach the hook thingy to lock the door."  
_  
Faith gestured for her to continue.

_"Not a mind reader here, B. Whatcha want?"_

Buffy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear again. Faith was starting to recognize it as a sign or nervousness. Or it was just a crappy habit. One out of the two.

_"Stand in front of the door,"_ the blonde spoke, looking at her hopefully.

_"You're serious_?" Faith asked.

_"Yeah, I don't want Xander walking in or something!_" Buffy exclaimed. _"Please?"_

Faith pursed her lips, before smirking. _"Well... I might consider it. What'll I get?"_

Buffy shifted a bit again, crossing her legs and tugging on her shirt. _"Anything. Just c'mon."_

_"You're in luck, B. Anything just about covers my payment,"_ Faith smirked at the obvious discomfort of the blonde. _"Show me the way."_

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Xander shook his head. "Okay, that doesn't make any sense."

"Actually it does," Willow grinned at Tara. "It makes perfect sense! They're only kids and they understand English perfectly, but they speak another language. Small children don't usually speak two languages, do they?"

"I think you might be onto something," Giles nodded.

Xander pondered the subject, still not understanding anything. "O-kay, you smart people theorize here, while I go visit the big boys' room."

He made his way towards the bathroom and reached out to pull the handle, when suddenly someone stopped him. A little hand was clutching his big one. He looked at the tiny girl, who was looking up at him with big brown doe eyes and holding onto his hand.

He smiled at her. "Uncle Xander can't play now. He needs to go to the bathroom."

He tried to remove the girl's hand, but the girl's grip was rather strong.

"Let go now. Okay?" He tried to pry the fingers off. The little girl shook her head. Then she frowned and rubbed her stomach slightly. Xander understood.

"Do you want to eat?"

She nodded.

"I'll get you something, but before that, I really need to go to the bathroom."

He tried to open the door again, but that only managed to make the girl tighten her grip and frown even more.

"Okay, okay, please let go?" Xander raised his arm higher, hoping that the girl would let go. To his horror, the girl simply hung few inches off the ground, grasping his arm with her one hand and doing something with her other hand.

Xander stared. Was she doing the big L on the forehead? She was!

Xander blinked. Then he shook his hand. "Let go!"

The girl responded by shaking her head again.

"I need to go to the bathroom!" Xander whined, as he placed the small child onto the floor again. Of course she didn't release the hold on his arm. "Okay. I'll just..." He reached for the handle with his other hand, just to have the girl grab it with her own hand.

With no effort the little girl, even though Xander's hands were twice in the size of hers, brought the hands together and kept them so, grinning at him the whole time.

Xander was freaked. Like seriously freaked. The word demonic spawn Faith had mentioned a while ago flashed in his mind like a big warning sign. How was this little teeny-tiny girl so powerful? And why the heck was she torturing his bladder for?

"Please," Xander tried to get his hands free. "C'mon kid, let me go." When the little girl didn't even notice and kept holding on, Xander did something very manly.

"Willow! Anya! HELP!"

The words had barely left his mouth, when suddenly he heard a flush. A moment later the door opened and around the same time his hands were released.

Buffy's eyebrow rose at the strange sight in front of her. Xander was kneeling in front of little Faith, who had her hands clasped over his. But the brunette released them quickly, turning towards her.

_"Finally,"_ she spoke, smirking. _"I thought that you fell into it or something." _

_"What's going on here?"_ Buffy asked, looking at Xander, who looked seriously crept out for some reason as he stood up, keeping his eyes on the two kids_. "Faith, what did you do to him?" _

The smirk on Faith's face disappeared. Of course, she did something.

_"Why do I even bother." _She turned around walking away and leaving the questioning blonde behind. _"Waste of my friggin' time..."_

Just then Willow rushed into the hallway. Seeing only Xander and the blonde girl, she frowned.

"What happened? Why did you call for help?"

Buffy chose to ignore her friends' conversation for the moment, as she sighed loudly, almost slapping herself over the head. Why the hell did she always say the wrong things around Faith?

She passed Willow and Xander and entered the living room, searching for Faith, who was nowhere to be seen. But unluckily for the brunette, Buffy still had her slayer radar and as always, Faith was on it, pinging like crazy.

Buffy tucked her hair behind her ear, as she approached the bookcase near the wall. And as her inner Slayer had predicted, Faith was there, sitting in the small crevice between the bookcase and the wall, her elbows on top of her knees.

_"Faith...?"_ Buffy spoke hesitantly.

The brunette looked up.

_"What now? If you want me to give ya a boost so you could reach the cookie jar, you can go and shove..."_

_"No, it's nothing like that,"_ Buffy interrupted. She sighed once again. _"Listen, I didn't mean it like an accusation earlier and I... I..." _

_"Oh don't tell me,"_ Faith spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm. _"Is Buffy Summer apologizing to good ol' me yet again? Oh goody."_

Buffy's jaw squared slightly.

_"I just want to talk..." _

_"I've told ya once and I'll tell you again."_ Faith looked up, locking her eyes with Buffy's as she drawled out slowly. _"I - don't - care."_

Faith exhaled, her eyes moving to something on the opposite wall. She then added quietly,

_"Who were we trying to kid here, huh? You and I, we'll never get along. We might have a laugh or two, but for you I will always be a murderer and you'll always be,"_ she paused, her gaze moving to the blonde in front of her. "_Buffy Summers – the fabulous superhero, who just happens to have a stick up her ass."  
_  
For a moment the two Slayers just were quiet, their eyes locked onto each others', both deep in thought. Then Buffy softly stated,

_"I'm not giving up."_  
_  
"What is wrong with you? Buffy, can't you just get the point? Us being all buddy-buddy is not going to happen. Ever. Did your brain decrease along with your body or something?"_

_"Wouldn't rule it out,"_ Buffy nodded solemnly, a small half-smile on her lips. She then spoke, seriousness in her voice. _"Faith, we gave up once before and d'ya remember how that turn out?"_ Unconsciously, Faith moved her hand over her stomach. _"I don't want to screw everything up again."_

_"It wasn't you who did the screwing up."_ Faith's tone was neutral, her face showing no emotions, but something flashed through her eyes as she spoke.

_"Partly it was. Oh and a big part was Wesley's fault too – stupid British peanut brain."_

Faith didn't answer, but Buffy could've sworn that she saw a glimmer of a smirk.

_"We can't start over,"_ the brunette stated.

_"Says who?"_ Buffy retorted. _"In my opinion we kinda already did." _

_"This is going to take hell of a work... and time."_

_"Which I happen to have," _the blonde grinned, seeing the wheels turning in the brunette's head. She crouched down to her level. _"Faith, we've been through a lot more then most people in the world. I think we can handle a little work."_

She paused. _"Why are you hiding between the wall and the bookcase in the first place?"_

The brunette smirked_. "I heard Giles and Blondie speaking. Willow wants to try more spells on us."_

The look of horror on Buffy's face made Faith laugh softly. She scooted towards the wall.

_"C'mon, there's room."_

Buffy looked around. Giles and Tara hadn't noticed them and Willow was probably still with Xander in the hallway. After considering her options, she quickly slid into the crevice next to Faith.

_"So, what did happen in the hallway?"_ Buffy asked after a moment, bumping her shoulder against Faith's_. "Xander looked like someone had forbidden sex or something."_

Faith chuckled.

_"I think I might've overdone the whole stop Xander from entering the bathroom thing,_" she explained. _"Went a little overboard and stuff... though, it was totally worth it. He honestly looked scared of me."_ She gestured at herself_. "This little version of me."_

Buffy smirked.

_"Yeah, that's Xander alright."_ She spoke, leaning against the wall, looking upwards_. "Ya know, a part of me thinks that this sitch with you and me stuck here..."_ she looked to her left just as Faith turned her head towards her. "_Maybe this isn't all that bad."_

_"Kids? Where are the kids?"_ Willow's voice rang over the room. "_I got magic to do!"_  
_  
"Damn it, B,"_ Faith hissed, as she slid farther into the corner, trying to disappear. _"You jinxed it!"_  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx **

**A/N** – Yay! The plot thickens. Actually, I'm not sure if it does, but I've always liked saying it ^^ Geek, I am! But thanks for reading it. All comments, recommendiations, critics are waited in the Review or PM form.  
**  
Thanks guys,**  
Love Daz


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N – First of, thank you all for your kind reviews. You should have seen the grin on my face as I read those. You guys rock. Big time ^^ So as a thank you gift, here is Chapter 5!**

**Chapter 5**  
**  
-REALITY-**

"Alright, all of you, stop panicking," Willow ordered, looking at her friends. Truthfully, her own nerves were totally messed up too. The fact that everyone else was even more nervous wasn't helping her a lot. Actually it was only making her go battier. But with determination she didn't know she had, she spoke, "This will work. We'll get Buffy back!"

Xander swallowed looking at Willow intently, as he held Anya's hand.

"Will, are you sure this portal thing works?" He asked, "Giles said..."

"I know what he said," the redhead mumbled, looking at the watcher. "But I checked the books twice. The spell is safe and it'll work. I'm sure of it."

Giles removed his glasses, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"You cannot be sure, Willow. There have been several unsuccessful attempts. Besides, we cannot even be sure which universe Buffy is stuck in. There could be millions of universes with a Buffy in them..."

"I know," Willow spoke up. "But we have to do something and I really think this is the solution."

"I-I believe in you," Tara hesitantly piped up, as she smiled gently at the redhead. "I bet you can do it."

"Yeah, if anyone can do it, it's you," Xander smiled tentatively. "Buffster will be back in no time with you on the case."

Willow grinned weakly. "Yeah, I really hope so too."

"Alright," Joyce Summers spoke, entering the room, a big cardboard box in her hands. "I got everything you told me to get. They even had that herb thing you wanted."

"That's great," the redhead in the middle of the living room bit her lip softly. "It'll make the spell even stronger." She looked around the room. "Let's get our Buffy back then."

**XxXx-AU-XxXx**

_"I told you we should've fought against her and make a run for it,"_ Faith muttered, looking at the blonde, who was sitting on the floor next to her. _"If she turns us into emus or something, I am so totally kicking your ass."  
_  
Willow had found them eventually and now they were positioned in the middle of the living room once again, surrounded by adults from all sides.

"I'm telling you," Xander whispered to Willow – but everyone heard him anyways, "There's something dodgy going on with those two."

Willow rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"Xander, if this is another theory about the brainwashing the Teletubbies do…"

"No!" Xander protested. Then he paused, "Well, that's true too, but in this case, I think it might be demonic!"

The redhead sighed deeply, before turning to look at Xander.

"They cannot be demons," she spoke very slowly as if speaking to a small child. "Remember? Buffy and Faith checked them out and told us all that their Slayer senses didn't tingle or anything. These two are just regular kids who need our help!"

They didn't notice how the kids sitting on the ground suddenly both froze, before slowly turning to look each other. There was a similar look on their faces.

_"Faith, Will has a point,"_ Buffy spoke first, rubbing the back of her neck. "_I really didn't think of it before, but my slaydar works. I know, 'cause, well, earlier… well, you're on it. On my slaydar I mean– strong and clear. But those two… I didn't get anything._ "

_"I didn't get a vibe either,"_ Faith murmured, confused. _"But c'mon there's no friggin' chance those two are human."  
_  
_"They can't be,"_ Buffy nodded, sure of it. _"But something seriously freaky is going on here. Like enormously sumo-sized freaky and…"_ She paused, when Xander suddenly spoke up again.

"Well, yeah… there's that, but still! Will, you didn't see her. She was like Hulk Hogan! Just smaller and you know, not that green."

Willow patted his head reassuringly.

"You'll get over it." Then she clapped her hands together and looked at Tara. A grin appeared. "Now, let's work some magic!"

**-REALITY-**

"Okay, here I go," Willow spoke nervously, looking around the circle she was in. She had marked the spot in the wall and now all she had to do was cast the spell and hope it works.

If she had been religious she would've said a prayer there. However, since she wasn't all she could do was take a deep breath and start to chant the words.

_"Please, Buffy, come back. We need you."_

**-AU-**

"Here I go…" Willow spoke, smiling at the kids, who immediately scooted closer to each other, trading a glance.

_"Remember. Emus equal me kicking your ass,"_ Faith whispered, swallowing nervously as white glow started to form around them. It was small at start, but soon it started to grow until white fog was surrounding the two of them completely.

Now only able to see the blurry shape of Buffy next to her, Faith leant over and murmured,

_"But, ya know in case we never even make it out this friggin' cloud… B, it was fun knowin' ya."_

Buffy shivered slightly, as the fog started to feel cold. She reached out towards Faith, managing to locate her hand after a bit of searching. She grasped it, gave it a small squeeze and whispered,

_"Ditto."_

Outside the small cloud, Xander frowned, before looking at Tara and asking,

"Is that supposed to happen?"

The blonde, looking quite worried, shook her head slowly. She had never heard of something like this happening during a translation spell before.

"No… it's not…"

**-REALITY-**

The portal was opening, the swirling white circle was widening slowly as Willow kept chanting. She was almost there. Couple of seconds to go. She could do it. She could bring back her best friend… right?

**-AU-**

Willow kept going. This one was a sure winner. However, she wasn't expecting the white glow that was in front of her. Although she had never cast the spell before, the books said nothing about cold white glows. Nothing at all. Nil. Extreme nadaness.

Still, she was counting on the spell to work. It was the most universal translation spell out there, so if anything was going to work it was this spell here. But the Wiccan started to doubt it's effectiveness as suddenly a breeze blew through the room, making her shiver. Something dodgy was going on… Something very…

"WAAH!" Xander let out a yell as suddenly a small explosion took place in the middle of the room, sending a white blinding blast through the entire house.

It took Willow several blinks before her eyes could make out shapes again. But to her enormous horror, there were no shapes to make out. The carpet, that now had a small scorch mark in it, was otherwise empty. The little adorable kids, who had sat there, innocently looking at her, had disappeared.

"Oh my god," Willow met Xander's eyes with her own that were now comically large. Her lip quivered as she spoke, her voice shaking as well, "Xander, I think I dissolved the kids."

**-REALITY-**

Willow gasped out the last two words to complete the ritual of opening a portal to a different reality. She was drained, but she was sure it was going to work, it had to! So as the final word left her mouth, she almost cried of happiness, when Buffy stumbled out of the portal.

But the moment of joy didn't last for very long. Willow's eyes widened a moment, as she understood a couple of things that didn't make her feel not nearly as warm and fuzzy as seeing Buffy coming through the portal had done.

First of there was the fact that Faith had followed the blonde Slayer out of the portal, but since she had gotten lost with Buffy, Willow had been expecting it, so she could understand that.

However she couldn't understand why Buffy and Faith were both seemingly naked and covering under one bed sheet, both looking very flushed for some reason. She watched as the two Slayers blinked furiously, obviously adjusting to the sudden light.

And then…

"Oh my god!" Buffy squealed, pulling the bed sheet more closely to herself and Faith. "What the…" She stared around the room, obviously shocked. Then seeing Xander ogling something, she looked slightly to her left. "OH MY GOD!" She repeated, pulling the sheet higher, so it covered Faith to the neckline. "Stop staring at my girlfriend's boobs, Xander!"

Xander's eyes widened slightly as he immediately looked away. Then, Giles cleared his throat, looking into another direction as well, removing his glasses just to be on the safe side from now on.

"No, Xander! Bad Xander! Bad, bad Xander!" Anya yelped, grabbing a magazine and hitting Xander over his head with it repeatedly. "You're only supposed to be staring at me!"

"Okay, here's a friggin' nifty question… How the hell did we get from my bedroom to B's living room in a couple of seconds?"

Anya's pelting stopped for a moment as everybody looked at Faith now. Faith, slightly discomfited by the fact she was naked in the middle of the room and everybody, including Giles and Joyce, were staring at her, frowned.

"Yeah," Buffy supported her girlfriend, as she leaned slightly against Faith, tugging the sheet slightly. "That's a mightily good question. How could've we suddenly just…" She paused, blinked and sighed. "Will, what did you do this time?"

"Uhm… You're and she's and you're to…together and…na-naked and th…there's nakedness a-a-and…" Willow slowly fell onto the couch, staring at the couch in front of her in shock. "Oh my goddess."

Tara placed a supporting hand on her shoulder in a friendly gesture just to make sure the redhead wouldn't fall off the couch if she happened to faint or something.

Giles decided to clean his glasses once again, even though he had no intentions to put them on as long as Faith and Buffy remained in their unclothed state. There was a small blush on his cheeks as he finally spoke,

"I think it's safe to say, that we did not get the right Buffy and Faith from that portal."

**-AU-**

Willow was about to burst into tears, thinking she had killed the children, when suddenly a small brunette head popped out from behind the couch, staring at her with wide brown eyes. A moment later another head, this one blonde, appeared.

"Hey! HEY!" Willow squealed jumping up and hurrying towards them. "You're alive! Thank you, goddess! I thought I – I had… But you're okay! You're okay… You're okay… Goddess, you're okay…"

_"Is she having some sort of a nervous breakdown or something like that?"_ Faith asked just as Willow swept both of the Mini Slayers into a hug_. "'Cause… Oomph!"_

She tilted her head so she could breathe again. The brunette really couldn't understand what was it with Willow and her tendency to try and suffocate small midget-like people with her breasts.

She saw Buffy also struggling against Willow's strong embrace, as the blonde turned her head to look at her.

_"She's insane," _Faith spoke immediately as Willow sobbed, still clutching the two of them.

Buffy, always the one to protect her friend's sanity, gave her sister slayer a half-smile.  
_  
"Well, Faith, look at it on the bright side. At least we're not emus."  
_  
As soon as the words left Buffy's mouth, Willow, with tears of joy in her eyes, looked down at them.

"I'm so sorry I almost killed you. I'm so, so sorry. I'm glad that you're okay…I'm so glad…" And then her eyes locked with Faith's making the tough slayer shudder slightly. There was something ominous in that look. Something that promised pain, humiliation or possibly both. She had the urge to run and hide and never come out. But it was too late.

Willow's hands already made their way to Faith's shoulder's making the brunette stay put. And then the event, which Faith would always name as the most bizarre event in her life, started.

The small slayer could see it coming. Her eyes widened and she started to struggle against Willow's hold on her. She was unsuccessful because fear had overtaken her and her Slayer strength it seemed.  
_  
"No, please…"_

_"No, no, no!"_ she whispered, horror sweeping through her, as Willow neared closer. _"No! B, save me! B!"_

Buffy's eyes widened as it happened right in front of her. A sight so wacky she would never be able to forget it.

_"NOOO!"_ The small squeal could be heard through the entire house, but only Buffy was able to understand it. The little girl near her, dressed in her small pants and a t-shirt with the cutest dragon it, managed to yell another _"NOOOOOOOOO!" _before she was unable to speak anything else.

Because suddenly Willow's wet lips were everywhere on her face.

The brunette could only freeze in shock and utter disgust as she squeezed her tiny fists together, begging for this inhuman torture to end.

Why, oh why, had she not been turn into an emu?

She swore she could hear Buffy's cheerful laughter in the background of her personal nightmare. There was nothing that could make up for this. Nothing!

Or so she thought until the redhead released her and turned slightly. Buffy's laughter stopped and horror flicked through her eyes.

_"No, she couldn't think… No. Please. Willow… Arghhh!"_

Faith, furiously wiping the wetness off her face, looked up, her face filled with disgust. But as soon as she realized what Willow was up to, her expression changed. A small smile appeared, that turned into a full-fledged grin as Willow begun to pepper Buffy's face with kisses as well.

And so the worst experience in Faith's life became a lot less awful.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – Haha, so I've introduced two different realities and different Buffys and Faiths as well. The moment you feel **the story is hard to follow** review and flame or send me a PM. Please, just so I'd know I have to fix it.

Thanks again for keeping up with this story of mine ^^  
Daz


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**-AU-**

"_Alright, B _

Faith's face was crunched up, as she too furiously rubbed her face, unable to believe Willow friggin' Rosenberg had just smooched her – or drooled all over her more accurately. Seriously, just as she had thought this situation couldn't get any more insane, Red had done ... THAT!

Buffy continued to look at Faith, waiting for her to add something. She could swear she could see a flicker of a pout on the brunette's face for a moment there. And on that moment Faith managed to actually look the part of a five year old. One that had just been robbed of a chocolate chip cookie.

And the cuteness of her made Buffy smile softly without the blonde even being aware of it.

"_This is so going to become yet another friggin' chapter in our book called 'Stuff we never talk about',"_ Faith declared a moment later, as she stopped rubbing her cheeks, which looked very flushed by now, and glanced at the blonde.

A few seconds after that Faith's pout became more obvious as she noticed the blonde grinning at her. She picked up a book nearby and threw it at the blonde half-heartedly.

"_It's not funny!"_ Faith exclaimed, annoyed when the blonde caught the heavy book with ease._ "I feel so... harassed and ... wet! And not in a good way!"_

Buffy continued to grin for exactly three point seven seconds after that. Then her eyes popped open and she yelped,

"_Faith!"_

The brunette sent her an amused smirk, as she folded her hand over her chest, obviously enjoying getting Buffy riled up.

"_Yeah, B?"_

The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but a moment later closed it, biting her lip. Then she surprised the brunette by grinning at her again.

"_You know, only you can give sexual innuendoes to everything."_

Faith chuckled.

"_Yeah, it's a talent," _she replied, before scrambling onto her feet. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear as she glanced at the Scoobies in the kitchen obviously now discussing something important. _"So, B, ready for some serious undercover spying?"_

She glanced behind her where Buffy had been a moment ago and was surprised to see the blonde already gone. Seriously that girl had disappearing act down friggin' well! Faith looked around the room, when she noticed her – now sitting next to the doorway to the kitchen, a book opened in her lap.

Resisting the urge to slap herself, Faith went to stand next to her.

"_B, what the hell are you doing?"_

"_Shh, I'm listening in while looking inconspicuous here,"_ Buffy spoke, before glancing at the brunette,_ "Besides if they see me reading, it'll be a hint to the fact I can do it!"_

"_Mm,"_ Faith murmured, sliding down the wall to sit next to the blonde, looking a bit amused for some reason now.

Buffy was about to tune up her slayer hearing to listen in on the whispering going on in the kitchen, when suddenly she felt a warm hand on her bare arm. Surprised, she looked at Faith, who didn't look back at her. Instead, she quickly flipped around the book in Buffy's lap.

The blonde sheepishly looked at the book that had been upside down a moment ago.

"_I-I knew that,"_ she muttered, painfully aware that her cheeks were warming up slightly.

Faith glanced at her and smirked,

"_Sure, you did, B."_

Buffy hit the brunette's shoulder with her own softly and the two of them exchanged a small smile, before they both tuned into the quiet conversation taking place in the kitchen.

**-REALITY-**

The air in the room was so friggin' thick that if someone had thrown Angel into the air, he probably would've remained hanging in there by his fangs.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Faith exhaled slowly. Comfortable was not the word she'd use to describe what was going on. Here she was, wearing Buffy's clothes, which were definitely a bit small for her, being stared at everyone in the room. Since she refused to meet their eyes, she couldn't be sure of the last fact, but damn, she could practically feel it! Faith released another long breath, continuing to stare out of the window.

Not that there was anything to watch. Tree. Tree. Tree. Tre... Ooh, a cat!

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Giles sighed, as he cleaned his glasses for what seemed to be the millionth time in the last twenty minutes. Seriously, the guy spent more time cleaning them than actually wearing them.

_Tap. Tap. Tap.  
_  
Joyce glanced at the couple on the couch once more, before shaking her head softly. She was obviously surprised and nobody could blame her.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Willow was just staring, seemingly not having the need to blink. At all. Ever!

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Christ, B!" Faith reached out in the blink of an eye and grabbed the blonde's hand gently, stopping Buffy from continuing to tap her fingers against the table in front of them and surprising everyone. "You're starting to drive us all insane here."

Buffy sighed, leaning back into the couch.

"Sorry," she murmured softly, looking up and meeting her brown eyes with her own. Everybody though noticed how they didn't release each other's hands. Buffy bit her lip softly, before turning to look at the other people in the room. "So... I-I put her in a coma, huh?"

"Yes, but we all think she had it co..." Xander paused, as the Slayers both glanced at him sharply. He swallowed nervously. "It's actually a long story and..."

"I'm an evil bitch, B stabbed me and I was in coma until a day ago," Faith returned to staring down those dull trees outside, since that cat had already disappeared.

"O-or it's kinda short," Xander murmured, averting his eyes.

"Alright, no offence guys," Buffy spoke up a moment later, "But your universe kinda sucks. You - You have a stupid universe."

Faith laughed softly, looking at the blonde Slayer again, and even the Scoobies smiled a bit.

"Seriously, Faith," Buffy leant against the taller girl. "Once we get home – You'll find a way for us to get home, right?" She glanced at the redhead, who nodded. "Yes, well once that happens I'm gonna start appreciating our universe. Make it a cake or something."

"Mm, B, no offence, but you're gonna make a cake? Do you seriously want to turn our universe against us too?" Faith asked, smirking as Buffy let out a small sound of protest.

"Hey, I can bake!"

A rather loud snort was heard after that.

Buffy harrumphed and folded her hands over her chest, pouting as she stared at the person who had snorted.

"Well, thanks a lot for your belief in me, Mom."

**-AU-**

Nervously, Buffy wet her lips, as she stared at the weapons in her disposal. She swallowed nervously and glanced over them at Faith, who was grinning at her. Damn, she must have something in her sleeve. Stupid Faith.

The blonde glanced at her choices once again. She was going to bring down Faith. She really couldn't afford to lose to her. Not again.

She made a decision, tapping the one she had chosen. She opened her mouth, but...

"Oh, no, little blonde person, you don't want to do that."

Surprised, she looked up at the couch to see Anya looking at her. Slowly she moved her hand over to the next one, making Anya nod and smile slightly.

"_Alright. Faith, give me eights."_

"_HEY! That's... That's cheating!"_ Faith exclaimed, staring between her blonde opponent and the blonde ex-demon, who was on the couch looking amused. Evidentially the woman, who had been assigned to keep watch over them while the rest of the Scoobs went out for supplies, wasn't as interested in the TV as she had appeared to be.

"_I have no idea what you're talking about, Faith,"_ Buffy grinned cheekily._ "Now hand them over."_

Faith grumbled under her breath as she handed the eights to the blonde, who accepted them, beaming now. She had a reason to, because only two minutes later the game was over and she had won. Faith knew because she had counted the pairs from the start, but since Buffy hadn't, the brunette let the blonde count them.

Hell, maybe B was so crappy at counting she'd actually win.

When it had become obvious that she was about to lose, Faith had come up with a brilliant plan, which involved brooding, pouting and complaining about the fact that Buffy had in fact cheated. It would have been good enough for her to deflect the statement that she had lost. But as she watched the blonde's grin widen with every pair she placed on her own stack, she let the plan slip away.

It was a stupid plan anyways.

A tiny grin played on Faith's own lips as she watched the blonde laugh delightedly as she placed the last of her pairs onto the large stack. She looked up at Faith, beaming at her as she declared,

"_And Buffy wins!"_

Well, there goes the hope B sucks at counting.

Faith grabbed the stack, expertly shuffling the cards.

"_One more time?"_

"_Of course,"_ Buffy replied immediately. She hadn't played cards since... Well for a very long time. And it was really fun even if she did lose every once in a while. Alright – most of the time, but still, the point remained. It was fun.

She found herself yet again gazing at her ex-enemy. They had just made a deal to at least try to be friends again and honestly, Buffy thought they were off to a good start. The brunette seemed to be enjoying herself as well and even though the situation they were in wasn't exactly...

Buffy's train of thoughts was interrupted when the cards Faith had been shuffling clattered onto the carpet. The blonde was about to make a teasing remark about her clumsiness, when she noticed Faith's face – the brunette was totally horror-stricken.

Buffy frowned and quickly glanced behind her, trying to see what Faith could be staring at. She saw nothing but channels constantly changing since Anya was currently channel surfing.

Buffy looked back at Faith, but before she had the chance to ask what was wrong, the other girl had already jumped up and practically lunged at Anya.

"_Faith!"_ Buffy exclaimed, as the blonde on the couch let out a loud yell, trying to fight the small brunette off. _"What the hell are you doing?"_

But Faith didn't respond. Instead she continued to struggle with Anya and a few seconds later she was victorious. Holding up the big remote, Faith went back. One channel. Two. Three. And...

No. No. No. It couldn't... No.

The remote hit the floor with a clang as the brunette just remained frozen next to Anya, unable to do anything else but stare at the screen.

"Jesus, if you wanted to see the news so much, you could've just asked instead of attacking me," Anya muttered, as she bent down to pick up the remote. However someone else was quicker. Buffy had snatched it up and was pressing volume button frantically, her heart beating in her ears now it'd seem.

It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. It just...

"And here I am with Mayor Allan Finch. Please, what is your opinion on the issue?"

It was.

"Well, I believe..."

Buffy stared at the TV in shock. It made no sense. Allan Finch... He was dead. Buffy had played a part in his death! And yet – yet there he stood, smiling and talking about something totally random. It made no sense. Buffy had been there, she had seen the blood, she had seen him take the last breath, she had seen Fai...

And she froze.

Oh god, Faith.

Almost immediately she looked to the couch. The sight she saw made her heart break.

"_Faith,"_ she whispered, her own voice cracking slightly. The brunette seemed to be dragged out of her stupor by her voice, because a moment later she unclenched her fists which had been shaking uncontrollably moments ago. Pained brown eyes met Buffy's own emerald green ones and the blonde swallowed, wishing she knew what to say to make it better.

She opened her mouth, but already the brunette was moving away, escaping this. Her, the TV, everything.

Faith had to get away, she needed to get away. Now. Seeing him alive and joking, it brought back memories. Memories, she didn't want to dwell on. She took a deep, ragged breath, suddenly afraid to be physically sick. Suddenly she felt trapped. She didn't know what was going on, but she really had to get out of here.

About a minute later a small child could be seen running down the dark streets of Sunnydale faster than most adults do. Dressed in small jeans, sneakers and the cutest of shirts, nobody would've ever guessed she was running away from murder.

Faith had relived the night of Allan's death more than once during her coma. She remembered every fucking detail of it. She might've tried to forget, but she never could. Buffy's scream, the feeling of her stake piercing human flesh... The look on his face as the stake had slid into his heart.

She ran faster.

The blood that had trickled down from the corner of his mouth as he had stared at her in shock. He had come to get help and instead she had killed him.

She kept running, even faster now, her fists once again squeezed together tightly.

She could feel the prickling in her eyes and she refused to blink. She had never shed a tear about what she had done and she wasn't about to start now. She refused to be weak. She refused to... to...

...admit the biggest mistake she had made in her life.

She didn't know how long or how far she had ran, when she finally stopped, practically collapsing against the tree nearby. She slid down onto the ground, staring at her shaking hands.

Sometimes she could still see the blood on them.

But she hadn't had a choice. She couldn't stop. It was too late. She couldn't... She couldn't stop. It had been too late... She couldn't stop... Just couldn't... She tried... But she couldn't stop...

It was then that the girl, barely 18 years old and appearing so much younger than that now, let the guilt and sorrow overcome her. Tears started to fall, even as she tried to stop them. Soon enough sobs were racking through her body, as she pulled her knees closer to herself.

She had killed him.

But she hadn't meant to. She hadn't wanted to.

She didn't know how long she had been crying – it could've been a minute, ten of them or even an hour, when suddenly she felt warm hands around her. She tensed immediately and tried to push the body away from her.

She didn't succeed and the hold around her only tightened.

"_Let go off me,"_ she demanded, pushing harder._ "Let go!"_

"_No."_

"_Leave me alone. Just leave me the fuck alone!"_ The brunette struggled against the embrace, not able to handle this right now.

"_I won't."_

"_Please go," _Faith felt more tears sliding down her cheeks. _"I can't do this. I can't..."_

"_I told you_ _I'm not letting go this time."_

The struggling became weaker and weaker as Faith murmured,

"_I didn't mean to do it, B. I didn't mean to... I didn't..."_

"_I know, Faith,"_ the blonde murmured, hugging the brunette closer. And Faith folded. She gave up struggling and found herself clutching to the blonde as she finally let go of it. All of it. There, under an oak tree in the Sunnydale Park, stuck in her five year old body and in the embrace of none other than Buffy Summers herself, Faith Lehane finally broke down.

And it felt kinda good.

**-Reality-**

"Our story?" Buffy put down the tea she had been sipping. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Giles gestured to the two Slayers. "You two seem, very uh, different from our Buffy and Faith. Your relationship is quite, um, contradictory with what we have become used to and I'd like to know if it is as it appears to be."

"What?" Faith frowned, lifting her own tea.

"He wants to know if you're orgasm buddies!"

Faith was glad she hadn't drunk that tea yet, because she probably would've choked on it in her laughter. She glanced at Anya, who was beaming, obviously proud that she could translate 'Rupertese' so well already.

"Well, good to see some things stay the same in all universes, sucky ones or not," Faith commented, looking at Buffy, who appeared very flushed. "You okay, B?"

"Sorry, tea went down wrong way," the blonde coughed a couple of times, before looking at Anya and then the rest of them. Most of seemed uncomfortable. Well all of them seemed uncomfortable with the subject, except Anya. "That's what you need to know?"

"No, not at all," Giles quickly threw a glare at Anya. "What I actually meant is that I'd like to know how different our timelines are. What happened in your lives differently than in the lives of our Buffy and Faith for you to end up so different."

"Ah," Buffy nodded, before tilting her head, deep in thought. "Well... I think the timelines went off sync on the night Allan Finch died. In our world, he's still alive and kicking. And since Finch survived, Faith didn't, you know, go all evil on anyone."

"That's it?" Xander asked, obviously surprised. "You're telling me that if Faith hadn't accidentally killed that guy, you and her would've hooked up?"

"I don't know," Buffy shrugged, as she looked down into her lap. "I mean, that's kinda what happened to us, but who knows what else could've happened to the Buffy and Faith here."

"So when did you hook up?" Xander tilted his head, looking confused and slightly amused at the same time. When he got several glances, he spoke. "What? I'm not asking for details! I'm just curious."

"It'll be like a year soon," Faith grinned at the blonde next to her. "The first time we did anything was a day before the Hellmouth was opened." She glanced at the Scoobies. "Don't know if that happened over here, but it was pretty bad. Tentacles in the library and all."

"Yeah, that happened here too," Willow nodded.

"Yeah, well a night before that I was fightin' these lame-ass demons, who maybe had the edge on me for a moment... But then Buffy came along. We fought them off and then ended up at the motel..."

"Wait!" Xander exclaimed, now staring at them. "That was the night you had sex with me!"

This time Buffy actually spat out a bit of her tea and Faith herself quickly snapped her head around, so she could stare at Xander with wide eyes.

"You and Xander?" Buffy coughed out, turning to look at her girlfriend.

"I agree." Faith nodded, slowly, before exclaiming, "Me and Xander?"

"Hey, what's wrong with Xander?" Anya asked, frowning. "Is he bad at sex? Because I only have had sex with him and I can't compare. But he says I don't need to, but is he lying? Doesn't he give good sex?"

"I give good sex!" Xander exclaimed. Then as heads turned towards him, he blushed, especially under the looks of Giles and Joyce. "What I meant to say was ... Anya, remember how we talked about these kinds of subjects being for us two only?"

"Yes, but if you're bad at sex then how am I supposed to know?" Anya asked, concerned now. "Maybe I'm missing out on some incredible sex right now! Am I?" She demanded loudly, staring at the couple. The slayers both fidgeted under her enquiring gaze.

Faith raised her arms in defence.

"I've never had sex with Xan-Man. So I wouldn't know. Really."

"I – I wouldn't know either, 'cause the only guy I have ever had sex with was dead... And - And that seriously came out very wrong."

"What about lesbian sex?" Anya tilted her head. "Is lesbian sex amazing? Because there was this magazine..."

"Anya," Willow squeaked.

Faith was chuckling loudly as she stood up.

"Hey, Mrs. S, you still have those root beers on the top shelf?" She looked at the woman in the armchair, who was surprised for a split second by being addressed, but nodded a moment later.

"Mind if I grab o..." She glanced at Buffy. "B, want one?"

"At moments like this I really love you," Buffy grinned widely. "Yes please."

Faith rolled her eyes, smiling. She was about to enter the kitchen, when she paused in the doorway and looked over her shoulder.

"Oh and Anya?"

"Yes, Faith?"

"The lesbian sex with B is seriously mind-blowing!"

"FAITH!"

The brunette laughed at the incredulous blonde on the couch as she went to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and found the root beer just where it was supposed to be.

Hey, maybe this stupid universe had some good points to it too.

She went back to the room and snorted at the first things she heard.

"**NO**, Anya. I will not have mind-blowing lesbian sex with you!"

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N – **Shalalalala. Doesn't reading good fanfiction make you happy? Yeah? Then why are you reading this? :D

No, actually I think it didn't come out half-bad. Right? Well, let's see you do it better! Now, just let me know what you think and nobody will get hurt!

Love, Daz.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**-AU-**

Buffy Summers was sure that her backside was now inextricably stuck to ground. Frozen to it, never to be moved again. She didn't even have the guts to try and shift actually, as she feared her butt might fall apart as tiny ice cubes.

She probably would have fretted about the probable loss of her already tiny curves some more, hadn't the figure in her peripheral vision shifted.

Almost immediately, her worries about cold lay forgotten.

Her hair, which thanks to the strong wind kept hitting her in the eye, was swiftly tucked behind her ear, as she peered at the brunette next to her.

Faith's back was against the large tree, with her knees tucked under her chin and her hands wrapped around them. Her gaze was firmly stuck to the small speck of dirt on her white sneakers. She seemed oblivious to the cold.

Once she had stopped crying, she had shut the blonde out and now, Buffy had no idea what to do.

The silence, even though it was slowly starting to drive her crazy, outweighed the chance of another fight. Something the blonde was sure would happen if she spoke. God knows, she never managed to say anything right when it came to the younger Slayer.

She grasped at the grass next to it, pulling some out. She let them fall through her fingers a second later, absent-mindedly watching as the wind carried them away.

Faith had always remained a mystery for her. Buffy might've tried to understand the other girl on several occasions, but she never quite succeeded. As a matter of fact, every time she had felt like she was getting somewhere – seeing the real Faith for once– something happened and she was back to square one.

It was a stupid ass backwards game. A game, she really didn't want to play anymore.

With a small thump, the brunette landed on her feet, rolling her shoulders. Not sparing a single glance at the blonde, she spoke,

"_We should get back. Your small booby gang might be worried or somethin'."_

Buffy allowed her eyes to close as she accepted the way this was going to go. Yet again, she would be back to square one with Faith.

"Hey, you okay?"

Or maybe not.

The slightly concerned look she was receiving, made her falter for a split-second before nodding. She was nothing short of dumbfounded, when the brunette gave her a friendly grin and offered a hand.

"_You pro'ly have a special case of brain-freeze or something. It's wicked freezin' out here." _

The blonde wrapped her hand around the brunette's, surprised when Faith tugged her up with ease – evidentially her butt wasn't frozen to the ground after all.

"_Not that your brain freezing would affect you all that much, B."_

"_Hey, I resent that!"_

"_You're supposed to. By the way about, you know,"_ Both of the girls casually averted their gazes to something else, feeling it's easier this way. _"The thing earlier..."_

"_Another chapter in out "Stuff We Never Talk About" book, right?"_

"_Obviously that,"_ The blonde sharply glanced up when a soft arm slid over her shoulder, brushing away a blade of grass in the progress. Faith was looking at her now_. "And well, thanks."_

Even though the words were barely above a whisper and said with a roll of eyes, Buffy heard them as well as the sincerity behind them. Her response, accompanied by a smile, was equally genuine.

"_Anytime."_

Faith hummed under her breath before shoving her hands deep into her pockets.

_"So…"_

The lame attempt at conversation was rewarded by a nudge from Buffy.

_"Ready to go back?"_

_"Yeah,"_ Faith replied, before she turned and trudged a couple of steps forward. Then she paused, glanced over her shoulder and turned around to look at the blonde who had not in fact followed her. She looked behind her and at the blonde once again. Then she sighed._ "That was the wrong friggin' way, wasn't it?"  
_  
The smirk the blonde gave her was an answer by itself.  
_  
"I knew that,"_ Faith sniped, as she brushed by the blonde and headed to the opposite direction from before.

_"Sure you did,"_ Buffy replied seriously, this time catching up with the other girl. She kicked a small rock on the pathway and then froze. Immediately her hand shot out to stop the other Slayer from taking another step.

She didn't even have to explain herself as barely a split-second later Faith's face clouded over with recognition.

_"They're close."_

Faith nodded wordlessly, her eyes already sweeping their surroundings. Soon enough something that passed for what she was looking was found. She approached the bench and placed a good kick at the back of it, satisfied when the wood splintered.  
_  
"Faith, no,"_ Buffy exclaimed, as soon as she realized what the brunette was planning. _"We should run! Look at us, we can't…"_

_"Yes we can. This is exactly what we're made for, remember, B?" _Faith broke a rather big piece of wood into two, checking their sharpness before offering one to the dubious looking blonde. _"Might as well do it."_.

_"This is so NOT a good idea…"_

_"Well,"_ Faith threw the homemade stake towards her. She caught it on reflex. "_It's really up to you, B. Can't force you to do anything, but ya know…"_ she started to casually stroll towards the playground nearby. _"I could __**die **__if I go alone."  
_  
For a moment the blonde stared at Faith's back. Her teeny tiny back. Then, she quickly jogged after her.

_"I hate you,"_ she muttered, as the vibes kept getting stronger.

_"C'mon. Don't ya want to kick some undead ass?"_

"_Not when they could STEP on me to defeat me."_

"_You're not __**that**__ small and either way, too late to go back now."_

The vampires were slowly approaching them, having previously hid in the bushes by the swing set. Their faces, when they had noticed two unguarded kids just strolling towards them, had been priceless.

Obviously, they thought they were in for an easy meal.

"_Just like good ol' times."_  
_  
"Nope. This is going to be even better."_

The two Slayers could not have been happier to disappoint.

**-REALITY-**

"What are you two doing?"

Buffy and Faith froze in the doorway to the blonde's bedroom . Slowly and a little guiltily they both turned around to face Joyce. The older woman tapped her foot against the floor in a truly mother-like fashion as she waited for a response.

"Going to sleep?" Buffy shyly offered.

Joyce merely raised an eyebrow and the Slayer groaned loudly.

"Come on, Mom! Faith and I have been together for an entire year. My room is called 'our room' back in the world that I actually like."

"I told you," Joyce was unmoved. "The two of you have to respect my rules."

Buffy let out a dry laugh. Placing her head into the crook of Faith's neck, she softly murmured.

"I hate this place."

Faith's response was to slide a comforting hand around her, before asking.

"Mrs. S, what if we promise you we'll _just_ sleep?"

"The answer is still no," Joyce replied, paying no heed to her only daughter groaning in protest. "Come with me and we'll make up the couch for you downstairs."

She shifted her weight, a little uncomfortable as she waited for an affirmative response that would tell her that her daughter and her... her... well her girlfriend understood what she was saying.

The display in front of her was not in fact making this easier for her. It was hard to understand why her daughter would just grumble at her while shifting even closer to the brunette, who merely a day ago had tried to kill them both.

The way the brunette tightened her hold just a little bit, when Buffy whispered something for only her to hear confused her. She didn't understand why Faith begun to laugh a second later and when she placed a short kiss on top of the blonde's head, her brows furrowed.

She didn't comprehend a lot of things, but what she did realize was that her daughter, who smiled up at the brunette before turning her head towards her, looked absolutely happy.

And that was the most confusing thing of all.

"A'right," she looked as the brunette gently extracted herself from the blonde, coming to stand by her. "I've actually missed having a dry pillow for once."

Confused, Joyce opened her mouth, but never got around to asking.

"I do not drool!"

"Keep lyin' to youself," the brunette spoke, smirking. She took a slow step backwards, towards the staircase. "See ya, B."

"I do not drool!" Buffy insisted, looking at her mom now. "Really, I don't!"

Joyce looked between the teenagers and shook her head.

"I believe you," she spoke. "Good night." She then turned and headed for the staircase with Faith, smiling at the familiar and soft 'Night, Mom' she heard as she did so. Side-by-side with Faith they descended the stairs.

"How often do you usually sleep over?"

The question, even though seemingly out of the blue, did not faze the brunette in the way Joyce had expected it to.

"Basically every time Bdoes." The brunette glanced at her. "I'm sorry if this is freakin' you out, Mrs. S, but it's the way it is. B and I are together. Have been for a while now. We live together in the dorms, we sleep in the same bed and almost every night we..."

"Faith, _please._"

"Go patrolling together," Faith cheekily ended and Joyce, even after the events that she recalled from the last night, smiled.

A part of her had always liked Faith.

Luckily for Faith that part – or Joyce in general for that matter – never found out where the Slayer ended up sleeping merely an hour after the couch had been made and Joyce had left for bed.

Old habits were just hard to break.

**- AU-**

"You just had to keep an eye on them, while we went to the library for more books!" Willow's loud exclamation could be heard even outside the front door, where the Mini Slayers now were.

Faith glanced at Buffy and smirked.

_"Told ya they'd be worried."_ She remarked, standing on her tiptoes to open the front door. _"Here we go again."_

They made it to the living room doorway without seeing anyone, which wasn't quite surprising as everyone seemed to be in the room. The two of them stopped and just surveyed what was going on.

Willow and Anya seemed to be face-to-face, the redhead looking like she was about to cry. The ex-demon seemed bored.

"I did! I kept my eye on them their whole sprint down the street!" The blonde folded her hands over her chest. "But then, you know, the buildings got into the way of my eye."

"Oh my god," Willow groaned, falling backwards onto the couch. "What were we thinking when we left her with the kids?"

"Will, come on, don't be so hard on her," Xander tried to be the peacemaker, "We can fix it."

"How?" Willow exclaimed, sliding a hand over her hair. "They're about five. With the amount of vampires out there, they're like little two yummy popsicles in a big crowd of hungry children."

The redhead threw another dirty look.

"I can try a… a locator spell. But I'm afraid… I mean, what if…"

"Has there been any progress with locating the children?" Giles entered the room, a cup of tea in his hand. Since he did have a clear view across the room it wasn't that surprising that he saw the Slayers almost immediately. "Well that was quite quick. How did you find them?"

Xander, who had his back towards the tiny people, looked back at the older man in confusion.

"Find who?"

"The kids." Giles nodded towards the doorway, calmly sipping his drink. Heads turned immediately, the expression on the faces of Willow and Xander quite amusing.

Faith raised a hand and waggled her fingers in a cheeky greeting. However, her amusement quickly faded, when Willow released a squeal, jumped off the couch and headed towards the two Mini Slayers.

_"Oh no,"_ Buffy murmured, her eyes widening.

_"Not again,"_ Faith groaned, before doing the brave thing and pulling Buffy in front of her. _"TAKE HER!"_

_"HEY!"_ The small blonde protested. However, as Willow approached, she forgot about the brunette and instead pulled her tiny very effectual fists in front of her. She loved Willow as a sister, but if she was going to try and slobber all over her again, she was so totally getting a tiny fist lodged into her face.

Luckily for Willow and her face's shape, fate chose to intervene. It happened in the shape of her phone ringing. Pulling the large mobile phone out of her pocket, she turned her back towards the little Slayers for the time being.

"Hey, baby."

Faith, previously covering the blonde, now leant over her shoulder to speak.

_"Remind me to send a big thank you stake to the wolf-boy."_

Buffy tilted her head to look at the face hovering above her shoulder.  
_  
"Oz left after graduation last year. Willow's single, or at least I thought so, but…"_ Whatever she was about to say next was interrupted by a loud sneeze. The blonde sniffled.

"Guess the kids caught a cold."

The Mini Slayers were both a little taken aback, when the realized just how much closer Xander, Anya and Giles had suddenly gotten to them.

"I read from a magazine, that in case of a cold, people need to drink hot milk," Anya stated, nodding seriously, while managing to look oddly pleased at the same time. Whether she was pleased with the fact that the kids were okay or was she just happy that her newly gained knowledge about humans was of use, nobody will ever know.

However, at the mention of warm milk, both of the girls scrunched up their faces. It was an automatic response on both of their parts, but the Scoobs seemed to get the message.

Anya's brow furrowed.

"Well, then they should drink hot tea! And if they don't want that either, we can do it my way - hot, boiled human liver and..."

"Whoa," Willow's voice cut in as she approached them. "I'm sure we can just give them some tea. Giles is always drinking tea. He has a lot of it, right?"

"Yes, he does, but his tea tastes like something a demon has eaten and then pooped out," Anya replied in a matter-of-factly tone, paying no heed to the distressed look Giles threw her. "The liver is way more effective as well."

Willow and Xander exchanged a look.

"Hey," the boy spoke, "Maybe we can just wait until Buffster and Faith get here and then we'll them to give the kids tea at their place. Their tea is good, Anh."

"Yes!" The witch quickly agreed. "That's a good plan. But..." She glanced at the clock. "Shouldn't those two be here already?"

Giles stopped throwing polite British daggers at Anya with his eyes and looked at the clock. A moment later, he frowned.

"As a matter of fact, they should've been here an hour ago."

The three of them exchanged worried glances, but before any plan could've been thought of, the door to Giles house flew open. A leatherclad man walked in, his blonde hair slicked back as always.

As he noticed the Scoobs, he released a ragged breath, before speaking.

"Bloody hell, you bunch are a pain to find," he stated, plopping into the armchair closest to the door. "I was..." He didn't remain in the armchair for long. He shot up and pointed his finger at the pair of kids he had just noticed. "YOU!"

_"Um, B?"_ Little Faith on the ground glanced at her companion, as the man nearby kept staring, his eyes looking as if they were about to pop out. _"Why is there a Billy Idol wannabe looking us really creepily?"_

_"That's Spike... and I honestly have no idea why he's doing that," _Buffy whispered, as Spike suddenly walked towards them, crouched down and stared at them creepily for some more.

"Spike?" Xander asked after Spike had remained quiet for a while, just staring. "I know we're not that close, but I have some friends. They're really nice people and they can give you a really nice white room and a nice warm jacket..."

The blonde vampire threw Xander a scathing look, coming out of his stupor.

"Ha-ha, Boy Wonder, really bloody hilarious. So what are they?"

"Excuse me?" Giles asked.

"What are they?" Spike inquired, tilting his head as he looked at the kids again. "They look like human kids..."

"Well, whatta coincidence. They're human kids that look like human kids," Xander spoke sarcastically, although there was a small tint of hesitation in his voice. He too hadn't been certain they were human, especially after the bathroom incident - but hey, the Slayers hadn't gotten anything, right? So all was well in the little Xan-La-La-Land.

Spike rolled his eyes.

"If those two are human, I am the bloody queen of Canada. There are no human children capable of taking down vampires, are there?"

_"Ah,"_ Buffy murmured, scratching the back of her neck. _"At least now we know why he was staring at us."_

"That's preposterous," Giles spoke up, shaking his head. "Grown men are easily overpowered by vampires. These little girls would not have a chance."

"Which is why they're not normal girls!"

The vampire waited for a response. Then he realized he wasn't going to get one and shrugged, fishing out his packet of cigarettes. It wouldn't be the first time the gang would hide things from him. He lit up his smoke and turned towards Giles.

"Your Slayers disappeared, by the way."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N –** I have nothing new to say. Except that you all should know that Billy Idol stole this look from Spike. That's all.

**Thanks – Yours truly**, who has invisible, tasteless and odorless cookies for her reviewers!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**-AU-**

There was a moment when nothing was said. Nobody even seemed to breathe. Complete silence ruled the room.

"Disappeared?" The silence was gone, being replaced by Giles' worried voice. "What do you mean?"

"I mean went missing. As in poof, white smoke, gone," Spike spoke, as he puffed out a cloud of smoke himself.

"So about that nice white room..."

"Not now, Xander," Giles ordered. A frown on his face, he directed a question at Spike. "What happened?"

The vampire seemed to enjoy the attention on himself. He looked between the three concerned Scoobs, before sliding into the armchair once again.

"Don't you find this situation a little ironic? All you white-hats, the merry crew of the Vampire Slayer depending on good ol' me."

"Spike," The British accent was heavier now, the man sounding distressed, angry even. "I really don't have time for this nonsense. Tell me what happened. Now."

"Jeez, don't get your knickers in a twist, old man. I was on a walk and I just happened to go past Lehane's house. And as I just happened to innocently glance into her room, I noticed both of the Slayers being surrounded by some white cloud and then they bam, they were gone – Disappeared into thin air."

"Was it some sort of a spell?" Giles frowned.

"Do I look like Harry bloody Potter? How the hell am I supposed to know?" Spike put out his cigarette. "I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"And...?" Xander asked. "Cause it's hard to believe you did this out of the goodness in your heart."

"Well, I did leave some of my blood here last week."

"It's in the freezer."

Spike nodded to the man, stood up and went towards the kitchen. Giles in turn turned towards Willow. "Do you think you could...?"

"I'm calling Tara," The redhead was already holding her phone. "Luckily I know she's still awake. Oh, hey, I know we just talked, but I really need your help with something..."

Giles took of his glasses and rubbed them. This was getting out of hands. First they get these children...

He paused.

Where were the children?

"Bloody hell! The children are gone again!" He yelled. Then he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down and came to a brilliant conclusion that he should not go around making loud statements like that with his glasses off. "Sorry, false alarm," he sheepishly apologized, when Xander and Willow appeared by his side immediately.

"Giles!" Willow admonished, shaking her head, before slowly edging away again. "Oh, it was nothing."

Xander also gave him a long look. He then looked down at the kids, who once again seemed to be deeply engrossed in a conversation. Being too tired and way too confused as it was, he just let them be and went to his girlfriend at least.

Anya was just yelling at the cartoons for being stupid.

At least some sense of normality in his day.

"_So what d'ya think? The carbon copies from hell went back to where they belong?"_

"_Huh?"_Buffy was dragged out from her thoughts. _"Oh, I don't know. I've been thinking about that too actually – but first,"_ she looked curiously towards Faith. _"Do you understand who Willow was talking to earlier?"  
_  
_"The same chick she's talking now, probably," _Faith rubbed the corner of her eye. _"Didn't she say something about calling again?"_

"_Yes, that's what I figured. But when she called the first time, she called her..."_

"Babe," Faith concluded for her. "Huh."

"Yeah."

Buffy let herself fall onto the plush carpet on Giles' floor. She heard a little shuffling and wasn't that surprised when she turned and found the brunette in a position mirroring hers.

They lay there for a while. Then Faith spoke up.

"_Hey, B?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Wanna hear these very smart thoughts that just came to my head?"_

"_You have smart thoughts?"_ Buffy couldn't help the teasing remark. And when a finger poked her side she couldn't help the small giggle either. She turned to look at the brunette. _"Okay, so spill those brilliant ideas, oh, wise one."_

"_Well, oh, sarcastic one. First, if G-man takes his glasses off again while we lay here, there's a big chance he will step on us and considering his size 9 shoes it's gonna hurt."_

Buffy snorted.

"_Okay, I'll admit, that is a rather good observation."_ She rotated her head towards brunette. _"Any more of those?"_

"_One,"_ Faith surprised the blonde by turning her head to her side as well. A smile on her lips, she she whispered conspiratorially, eyes locked with Buffy's.

"_This place is all sortsa gay."_

**- About an hour later (Still AU) –**

Two rather large sandwiches were placed in front of the two Mini Slayers. Xander watched, pleased, as the two kids bit into them, obviously hungry.

He was currently in the Summers' kitchen, having been sent here with the kids and Anya, while Giles and Willow researched Buffy's and Faith's mysterious disappearance. Since Gile's house was way too small for housing all of them as well as two kids and the basement was not even an option really, they had opted to come here.

It was perfect, considering the Slayers had restocked the fridge this morning and had even bought some clothes for the kids. And the fact that Joyce was still on her week-long trip was a bonus as well.

Even though it would be useful to have an experienced mother around.

Xander stared out of the window, slightly worried about his good friends.

Deep in thought, he didn't even notice when Anya entered the kitchen.

"Do you dislike the children?"

The girlish squeal that escaped his throat when Anya asked the question was definitely not his. That was his story that he would stick to no matter what.

"Don't scare me like that!" He clutched his chest as he stared at the woman. Then the question actually registered in his mind. "No. Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"You're starving them," Anya spoke matter-of-factly.

"Okay, they seem like a small deal, but those things took me long minutes to make," Xander defended the honour of his sandwiches. "And they are delicious! Plus two of those can even fill my insatiable hunger."

"Really?" Anya's brow furrowed. "But they don't look very big."

"Seriously, Anh, they will be eating these for an hour!"

Anya's eyes widened as she stared behind Xander and at the plates in front of the kids. She then stared at Xander.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" The man exclaimed, turning around so he could see his masterpieces. Then he paused. There were no masterpieces to be seen. There were just a few crumbs on the otherwise empty plates. "Wha... But how did..." The man crouched suddenly, staring under the table. "They were huge and... they're gone."

"_Hasn't he dealt with postage-slaying Slayers before?"_ Buffy wondered, grinning as Xander stared at them in shock.

"_I have no idea,"_ Faith replied. Then, after she gulped down the milk they had been given, she looked at the girl next to her. _"D'ya think he'd give us more if we tried to ask?"_

"_By the look on his face, he'd probably faint or something if we had the guts to appear to still be hungry,"_ Buffy rolled her eyes, as Xander started to explain to Anya why it was such a big deal two five year olds devoured his sandwiches. Then she sighed dramatically. _"After a day's hard work I can't even have my H-s satiated."_

There was a small gust of laughter by her side.  
_  
"Ya know, B. I'm sure if you went to the friggin' playground you could probably pick up some hot 6-year-old to help you with that,"_ Faith snickered. _"Or hey, maybe even an older guy.7-year-olds are really manly, you know."_

"_That's not the H-s I meant!"_ The blonde cried, trying not to blush.

"_Keep lyin' to yourself,"_ Faith grinned. She then surprised herself by yawning.

"_You're tired?"_

"_Surprisingly... yeah_. _Dunno what's wrong with me."  
_  
The blonde smiled, as she watched Xander and Anya. The two of them seemed to be in their own small world right now and making them understand that they wanted to go to bed would probably be a rather bothersome activity.

Deciding not to put up with that nuisance, Buffy hopped down from the chair she had been sitting on quietly.

"_Ready for bed?"_

Faith threw her a look, before also getting off the chair.

"_Ya know, usually it takes a tad bit more to get me to a bed, but," she_ flung a hand over the blonde's shoulder. _"I'll make an exception for you."_

Buffy beamed at her.

"_Because I'm so adorable and outrageously hot, right?"_

"_Yeah. That and I'm fucking exhausted."_

She proved her point by yawning again.

The blonde, Faith's hand still around her shoulders, smiled softly at the unbelievable cuteness the small brunette could portray. The younger Slayer noticed the mysterious smile though. One of her eyebrows arched.

"_What?"_

"_Nothing. It's nothing. Come on, let's get you to a bed."_

"_You're kinda antsy, aren't ya."_ Faith paused mid-step and looked at the girl next to her. _"B, if ya think I'll help you out with you H-s, then there's no way... Wait. Actually, if I think about it..."_

A hand colliding with her head and sending her stumbling a step forward stopped her from continuing her sentence.

Removing her hand from Buffy's shoulders, she raised them.  
_  
"Okay, fine. Abusive relationships were never my thing anyways."_

The two girls took a moment to stare at each other and then Buffy grinned.

"_You're incorrigible aren't you_?" she asked, pushing open a nearby door.

"_And proud of it,"_ Faith replied as the two of them entered the room. Noticing the familiar settings and the bed, she sighed happily, making her way towards it. However, half-way there something soft collided with the back of her head.

She picked up the item of clothing. It was a T-shirt. A large one.

"_Da-da, our nightgowns."_

"_Nightgowns,"_ Faith repeated. Then she scrunched up her nose. _"God, B, have you've degraded me into someone who wears 'nightgowns?'"_

"_Oh shut up and put it on,"_ Buffy replied, as she pattered past barefoot, having somehow already changed into one it would seem. The large T-shirt billowed around her as a robe. _"I am not going all Ad... Eve and Eve with ya again."_

"_Ah, there goes my theory of you trying to molest me,"_ Faith sighed as she wiggled out of her t-shirt with her back turned towards the blonde. A short while later, as she climbed into the bed, she glanced at the blonde. _"Did ya have to dash all my hopes?"_

Buffy smile was seen even in dark.

"_Good night, Faith."_

"_Night, B."_

**-Reality-**

If aliens would attack right now trying to kidnap her for some sort of freaky testing, she would probably spread her hands, fall onto her knees and yell, "Take me, please!"

Willow Rosenberg had a mission. One that could very well end badly. So who could blame her for wanting a way out? Seriously, was it so weird to wish to be abducted by aliens instead of going into her best friend's house?

Alright, so maybe it was a tad bit weird.

Hesitantly, she reached her hand out, ready to knock – and then let it fall onto her side limply.

Bravery had always been more of a Buffy thing anyways.

She bit her lip, nervously staring at the door. She could make this sound less horrible. Maybe she could even make it sound good? No, probably not.

But they wouldn't attack her, right?

Well, Faith was kinda insane... No, this Faith wasn't bad. Well, they said she wasn't bad, but hey, maybe they were lying! Bad people would lie, because lying was a bad thing and that what bad people did! Maybe they were both bad! Maybe they were completely and utterly evil! Maybe – Maybe they were both evil baboons under disguise, who want to roast her on a spit fire like a barbeque banana?

Willow paused in her mental babble.

Yeah, even she could tell that that thought was completely ridiculous.

She raised her fist again. And of course, lowered it a second later.

She had a feeling that she was going to be here for a while.

Maybe she could go back home, call the house and say she got sick? Yeah, that'd work – or not. They'd probably still want her magical help and Tara already knew so she could... Ooh, maybe she should let Tara tell them the news!

Before she could decide if she should or shouldn't take the coward's – in her mind rational – way out, someone suddenly touched her shoulder.

"Argh! It's not my fault!"

"Okaaay," Joyce tilted her head slightly, obviously surprised by the sudden yelp. "But could you open the door for me?" she glanced down at the two paper bags full of groceries she was holding.

"Oh, I- uh- of course," the redhead, cheeks tinted with pink, reached towards the knob. After a small moment of uncertainty, she turned it and opened the door, quickly taking one step back, as if shocked by her own enormous courage.

Joyce threw a look at Willow, but before she could speak, her mobile rung in her purse.

"Willow, could you please take these to the kitchen?" She asked, quickly dumping two bags into the redhead's hands and backing away as she quickly answered her phone, having expected the call for some time now.

Deeply engrossed in the business call, she didn't even notice the look of horror on the teenager's face in the doorway. It was as if someone had told her to strip, cover herself with deer blood and then run through the cemeteries of Sunnydale.

Willow blinked.

Hey, what if she did that? Then they'd have her institutionalized and she'd never have to tell them anything! Oh... well, if she survived the run that is.

As she suddenly noticed a frowning Joyce looking at her from across the room, still chatting on the phone, she realized she probably looked ridiculous.

So she took a small baby step forward. And froze again.

Because obviously, now she didn't look half as ridiculous.

The redhead had to take a few calming breaths, before she finally accepted her fate, grabbed a stronger hold of the grocery bags and started to march towards the kitchen.

She'd be fine. Buffy from a different reality or not, she was still her best friend. She'd understand. She had to. Because that's what best friends do and this new Buffy was just like the Buffy that was her best friend.

Or not.

Willow's eyes widened as she finally reached the kitchen and saw something she thought she would never ever see.

There was her best friend.

Normal.

There was the fridge behind her.

Also normal to some extent.

And then there was Faith pressing the blonde against it, while they made out.

And that's when the normality disappeared and the sight actually reached Willow's brain.

"Oh my goddess."

Immediately the two Slayers by the fridge separated, both turning towards her. Buffy, still leaning against the fridge, let her head fall against it a second later.

"Will?" She muttered softly, her breathing slightly irregular for some very unimaginable reason. She popped one of her eyes open, when she realized the redhead wasn't responding.

Fighting down her shock, Willow finally managed a weak,

"Y-yes?"

"Have I told you just how much I _adore _you and your impeccable timing?"

Willow turned even redder if that was possible.

"I-I just... I mean...I d-didn't..."

"Chill, Red," Faith laughed, as she made her way around the kitchen counter and grabbed one of the grocery bags. "She's just..." she looked towards Buffy with a smirk."Tad bit fustrated ."

Buffy did the mature thing and flicked a grape towards the brunette's head, as she hopped up onto the counter by the fridge.

"I hate you."

"Sure you do," Faith replied, nodding seriously as she dropped the bag onto the kitchen counter. Then she added, "And Xan-man is actually a woman and Red here is in fact straight."

"Ha-ha," Buffy replied, but grinned when the brunette smiled at her. "But we're so goi..."

"WHAT?"

The question how someone could make a cry that shrill still sound a bit hushed can be answered by nobody. Except Willow Rosenberg that is.

"Ouch?" Faith rubbed her ear as she turned around, throwing a look at Willow. "Sensitive Slayer ears over here."

"Bu-Bu.. But how? You and you and then you said and she said..." Willow's eyes enlarged as she pointed an accusing finger at them. "You know!"

Buffy hopped down from the counter, stood next to Faith and whispered,

"What do we know?"

"I... don't know?" Faith shrugged almost non-visibly. "Red, you okay?"

Willow stared at her. Hard. Then she stared at Buffy. Also hard. And only then she asked,

"Who told you?"

"Told us what?" Buffy worriedly asked. "Willow, is something wrong?"

"You know!"

"What do we know?"

"That I'm... you know!"

"Very confusing?" Faith asked, her eyebrow furrowing. "It's kinda apparent right now."

"No, not that," the redhead groaned in frustration. "That I'm..." she looked around nervously, before whispering. "Gay."

There was a moment of silence.

"Wait. Is that a secret?" Buffy asked, frowning a little. "Are we supposed to not know? Because, well, Will, I don't want to break it to you, but by having a girlfriend you well, you know, lifted the big veil of secrecy."

"But I haven't told you she's my girlfriend!"

"You haven't?"

"Um, B," Faith suddenly smiled, catching on. "I don't think this Red is out yet."

"What?" Buffy's confusion turned into surprise. "You're not? Really?"

Willow flushed under their amused gazes.

"Don't tell anyone."

She stared at the two girls in front of her anxiously, expecting well... She didn't know what to expect, because right now the two of them seemed rather expressionless. So she was surprised when Faith started to chuckle.

She made her way towards the redhead, took the second paper bag from her hands and spoke,

"Dunno, Red. You may have to find a way to _repay _us."

The girl was sure her mouth fell open at the suggestive tone and the flirty look. She had no idea what the Slayer was thinking or what she wanted from her. Confused, she probably would've gaped for a while, hadn't yet another grape hit the back of Faith's head.

"Don't mind her," Buffy spoke, as Faith protested to the grape-abuse. "She's joking." The blonde made her way towards the redhead and smiled. "Hey, listen. You were there for me when I went through this," she paused, "Well not you you, but you know and I was there for you and I can do that again if you want to talk or anything."

"I – Thanks," the redhead smiled slightly. Yeah. This Buffy really was very much like her best friend.

"But I got to go back home soon, so don't wait for too long," The blonde in front of her smiled.

And there went Willow's good mood.

"Uh, I... I actually wanted to talk about that. Not me being... I mean, about you going back."

"Yeah?" Faith asked, as she threw stuff into the fridge. "So what's the deal?"

Willow threw a look at the brunette's direction, fearing her reaction way more than Buffy's for obvious reasons.

"It... I, well..."

"Spit it out, Will," Buffy urged her on, the smile gone from her face.

"I can send you back in a month!"

She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut after that so she wouldn't see the Slayers' reactions, but because of the fear for her safety she didn't dare to.

She surveyed Buffy's wide eyes and Faith staring at her with shock from her position behind the open door of the fridge and she thought of one word, perfect for her situation.

"_Crap."_

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N – **All errors can be changed if you just tell me they're there. Really, if you notice something, have issues understanding something etc, please contact me, so I could fix it for whoever might read it later. **THANKS** and I hope you enjoy it. Also, enormous love towards the people that have made me happy by reviewing. **You always make my day :)  
**  
**Love, the author**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9  
**  
_**-AU-**_

_*Smack*_

Faith groaned and burrowed into the bed slightly, trying to ignore the sensation that something soft but large had just been thrown at her.

_*Smack*_

She groaned once more and shifted her pillow so it'd cover and sneakily protect her face, while she attempted to go back to sleep.

_*Smack*_

After the third time it became hard to pretend that nothing weird was happening. Hence, after letting out a frustrated moan, Faith lifted the large pillow off her head. Ready to find out what the heck was going on, she opened her eyes.

After blinking against the sudden onslaught of light, she saw the person who was to blame for her rude awakening. Then again, considering the situation she was still in, why was she even surprised?

"_Fuck you, B."_  
_  
"Does that mean you're finally awake?"  
_  
Faith closed her eyes and allowed her head fall onto the pillow again, letting out a weird noise from deep from her throat as she did so. She flipped the blonde off.

*Smack*

She opened her eyes again, lifting up the large stuffed dragon residing inches from her face. Well that would explain why she had felt like someone was throwing stuff at her.

Evidentially, Buffy was getting all trigger-happy with stuffed animals, if the ones on the floor were any indication. Faith dropped the dragon to the ground and closed her eyes again.

She had gotten up early for the girl yesterday. She was not doing it today.

_"Faith, are you awake?"_ Buffy sounded urgent.

_"No. Go 'way."_  
_  
"Faith, come on!"  
_  
This time the stuffed creature hit her right in the face.

_"B, if you don't stop it, I swear to god..."_

_"I'll stop if you wake up,"_ the blonde on the other side of the room bargained. _"Really, I need to talk to you about something." _

The continued insistence in her voice was the thing that made Faith finally fold.

She pushed away the stuffed lamb that had bounced off her face moments ago and sat up, throwing a weary look at the blonde by the door.  
_  
"Whatcha want, B?"_

Buffy started to move towards her, but then hesitated.  
_  
"Are you going to hit me if I come closer?"_ she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Faith yawned before rolling her eyes.

_"Chill, B. I'm not gonna attack ya or something for awaking me because of something important. "_

_"You did it before,"_ the tiny blonde murmured, as she approached slowly, a purple dragon brandished as a weapon for some reason. _"Hence the throw-stuff-at-Faith-from-a-distance-where-she-can't-kick-you approach."  
_  
Faith chuckled as she let her head fall against the headboard gently.  
_  
"Sorry 'bout that. I've always been a heavy sleeper."_

_"And now I know that,"_ Buffy smiled as she climbed onto the bed. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. For a while, she just sat there, her head tilted a bit and that half-smile still on her face.

_"What?"_ Faith finally asked, breaking the silence between the two.

"_Sorry,"_ Buffy quickly dragged her eyes away from the thing she had been gazing at – namely Faith - with a tiny blush on cheeks.

_"Ya know, I've never seen a kid blush this much before," Faith_ spoke thoughtfully a moment later, staring at the wall nearby. Then she glanced at Buffy."_Wait? Do friggin' five-year-olds even blush?"_

Buffy met her eyes, before shrugging softly.

_"Probably not."_

_"This is still so fuckin' weird,"_ Faith mumbled a moment later, her eyes on the small form of her so-called ex-nemesis, who was dressed in a billowing t-shirt and clutching a giant purple dragon.

Buffy smiled wryly.

_"Yeah,"_ she replied, poking the dragon thoughtfully. "_Still crept the hell out of me this morning too."_

_"Mhm. So, why the eff did you wake me up this early anyways?"  
_  
She let her eyes wonder around the room, but as they found no clock – the thing she had been looking for, she rested them on the blonde again.

_"It's around twelve,"_ Buffy spoke, as if knowing what Faith had been trying to find. Then suddenly an excited gleam appeared in her eyes. "_And I watched Charmed!"_

Faith blinked once. Then again and then...

_*SMACK*_

_"OUCH!"_ Buffy rubbed the back of her head, before hitting Faith with over the head with her awesome Stuffed-Dragon shaped weapon in return. _"You said you wouldn't hit me!"_

"_And you said you had a reason to fuckin' wake me up early!"_  
_  
"It's noon!"_ Buffy exclaimed defensively, fidgeting slightly under the brunette's gaze. _"And it's important!"_

_"Lemme guess, B. Someone broke up with someone else and now somebody is getting revenge and you're sad or something and need to bitch about it to someone – aka me?"  
_  
_"Well, actually, Phoebe and Cole are really over now and that's a little sad, because I always thought they would make it even though they're really different and stuff, but..."_Faith let out a pained sigh, which prompted Buffy into smacking her with her Awesome Dragon-Shaped Weapon yet again. The brunette swatted the offending stuffed animal away, while Buffy continued in a huff,

_"BUT that's not the important thing, the important thing is that I might know what happened with us!"  
_  
For the first time whole morning Faith looked interested.

_"What?"  
_  
_"Yeah!"_ Buffy spoke, excited again. _"See, in this episode Cole made this entire new universe, where they didn't find Paige and thus the Power of Three was never created and so he got to keep Phoebe. Even though they weren't happy, he was going to make it change by proving that he really did love her and ..."_ When Faith gave her the look again, she rolled her eyes. _"God, can't you think romantically for a moment?"_

Cue another look from Faith.  
_  
"Oh, fine! This new universe thing. I think this might be what happened to us. While in Charmed the new universe was the one where Paige is dead, then maybe in this one, Finch isn't dead and thus the reality is different!"_

Faith smirked.

_"That's your theory, B? So you actually think that if I hadn't killed Finch, you and I would have jumped each other bones and proceeded to have a friggin' relationship, while scarring strange homeless kids by having very loud sex in the next room?"  
_  
Buffy's cheeks tinted with pink as the realization sunk in.

_"Well..."_

Faith smirked and the action only made Buffy blush a tad bit harder.

_"B,"_ Faith flung a teeny-tiny arm over the blonde's shoulders. _"You need to realize that it's a tv-show and has nothing to do with what's happening to us. This is actually real."_

The blonde shrugged her arm off and pouted softly.  
_  
"The theory might be real too."_

_"Mhm,"_ Faith spoke consentingly, grinning when Buffy struck her with her Awesome Dragon once more. She caught the purple stuffed animal and yanked it out of the blonde's hands. _"So was there anything else you wanted, B? If we put aside the great theory and your rather obvious need to spank me?"_

Speechless, Buffy stared at Faith, who just grinned back at her cheekily. Unable to stand the fact that yes, she was indeed blushing _**again**__, _Buffy grabbed the Awesome Dragon from Faith and hit the brunette with it once more.

_"See, B, you're just proving my point,"_ Faith spoke laughingly, parrying off the assault. "_You got to have a tad bit twisted relationship with sex. Ya know, maybe you and I..."  
_  
_"Okaaay, and I'm going. Out of this room. Towards there. Away."_ Buffy hopped off the bed and marched towards the door, ignoring the laughter she could hear from behind her. She kept going, refusing to glance over her shoulder.

However, even as she was storming out in a dramatic fashion, a tiny smile played on her lips, as she had to admit that it was nice. Even though she was being teased nonstop and her cheeks were probably suffering under a serious heat disorder it was nice being around the other slayer.

Maybe she and Faith could actually make it work this time around.

She paused in the hallway not knowing where to go next. Anya and Xander were somewhere around here. Maybe she could go and listen in on their conversations in case they said anything important.

Or she could...

_"ARGH!"  
_  
...be scared out of her mind.

_"Okay, ow,"_ Faith rubbed her jaw, backing away from the blonde. _"If this keeps going on I am so gonna need a safe word or something."_

_"God, I'm so sorry,"_ Buffy apologized, stepping towards the brunette, who suddenly raised a hand, stopping her midway. Then the blonde's brow furrowed as she exclaimed,_ "Don't you know you shouldn't sneak up on Slayers?"_

_"If you think about it, the fact that you're a Slayer should stop me from sneaking up to you in the first place. Seriously and people think I'm the violent slayer."  
_  
_"I didn't mean to do it. You just surprised me."_

_"Well, fine, I'll never touch you again,"_ Faith rolled her eyes. _"And I just wanted to ask you something."_

_"Which is...?"_  
_  
"Do you have any pictures of you as a child?"_

_"What?"_

The face of the blonde portrayed her surprise quite well. That question she probably had not seen coming.

_"Pictures,"_ Faith repeated, nudging her softly and thus already breaking her promise to not touch Buffy again. _"That have you as a child... maybe around... I dunno, five years old on 'em?"_

Buffy's eyes lit up.

_"You're a genius,"_ she exclaimed. However merely a moment later she groaned and squeezed her eyes shut momentarily. _"Damn it. Mom moved them to the attic a while ago."  
_  
_"So we'll fetch 'em,"_ Faith spoke matter-of-factly, ready for action. _"Which way?"_

The blonde then pointed up. Faith followed the direction and her mouth fell open in a silent 'o' as her eyes found the short rope hanging from the ceiling. Had she been in her regular size, she might've had a chance opening the trapdoor. Now however, her chances could be summarized with one word.  
_  
"Fuck."_

**-About 30 minutes later-  
**  
_"Okay, remember back when I thought this plan was good,"_ Faith groaned, as she tried to stand up straight_. "Fuck that."_

The two of them were standing in the upstairs hallway, dressed completely by now. However, there was still something weird in the situation they were in.

_"No,"_ Buffy insisted_. "It's a good plan."_

_"Ouch!"_ Faith staggered slightly. _"Watch the head!"_

_"I'm trying!"_ the blonde exclaimed. _"Move ahead a little. Back. NO! Stop. Now a step to left... Wait no. Go back to right."  
_  
_"B!"_

_"Right, okay, this is perfect."_

The blonde tried to rise onto her tippy toes, but even then it was not enough. She huffed, annoyed.

_"I can't reach,"_ she complained, glancing down at Faith, on whose shoulders she was standing on. The brunette, her hands supporting Buffy, sighed.

_"Well that's cause you're a friggin' midg... HEY, do you want me to drop you!"_ She yelled, when Buffy purposely dug her heel into her shoulder blade. _"Okay. So maybe we can like get a chair or something too?"_

_"Or you could jump_," the blonde offered_. "I just need a few more inches."_

_"You serious?"_ Faith glanced up sharply.

_"Yeah."_

The brunette stared at her a moment longer, before she sighed in submission.  
_  
"Fine. But if you fall on your ass don't blame me,"_ she braced herself. _"Ready?"  
_  
Buffy gave her an affirmative answer and soon enough she was hanging in the ceiling, clutching on the rope that was *supposed* to pull down the staircase to the attic.

Supposed to because for some reason it didn't open even with a five year old tangling on it. It could've been because she didn't weigh enough or because the staircase hadn't been used in a while. But that left Buffy in a quite a pickle.

"Hey, Anh... WHAA?"

Faith quickly tore her eyes away from Buffy's hanging form and looked at Xander who had just appeared in the hallway. The man looked at the small brunette on the ground and then at the blonde child tangling under the ceiling.

He quickly drew his logical conclusion.

"Oh my god! You can fly!"

**-REALITY-**

"A whole month?" Xander asked, his eyes wide. He quickly glanced between the three girls on the couch. "It'll take a month before we can try to get our Buffy back?"

"And your Faith," Buffy entered quickly.

"Yeah, her too," Xander amended, a flash of guilt shooting through him, when the brunette on the couch averted her eyes. "But what if they're in a hell dimension or something?"

"No, no," Willow sounded quite convinced as she shook her head. "They have to be in their reality or one very similar to that and you know, judging by their opinion, their life in that universe isn't that bad."

"Way better than in this stupid universe. Sorry guys."

"No, I think it's stupid too," Anya nodded happily. Then she grinned widely before opening her mouth.

"No, Anya," Buffy cut in. "I still won't have hot lesbian sex with you."

Anya fell onto the couch more, pursed her lips and exclaimed,

"Well, then I think this is a smart universe! Hah, see, I can be mean too!"

Xander rubbed his temples.

"Anya, honey, she's not being mean. It's just that you can't go around asking people to have sex with you."

"Why? You had sex with her."

Faith groaned as she realized she was the one the ex-demon was referring to. Both Xander and Buffy mirrored her pained expression, as she asked,

"You mind if we never mention that thing again? Like ever?"

"Please." Surprisingly, it was not Xander or Buffy, but Joyce who spoke.

"Yes," Xander wrapped an arm around the blonde. "Anya, we have much more important things to discuss."

"But I want to know how come you can have sex with a sexy brunette and I can't even have sex with Buffy?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Should I be insulted? Because I feel like I should be insulted," Buffy looked between her friends and family. "That was an insult right?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, B."

"I think she meant well," Willow's brow was furrowed.

"I just want to know how good…"

"No. Just no," Joyce stepped in again. "There will be no more discussions of sex of any kind right now. Not until I find out what it takes for me to have my daughter back."

"Thank you," Giles breathed, putting on his glasses. "Now, I know this situation is not by any means pleasant for any of us, but if we have no other choices we have to figure out an amiable solution."

"Yeah. Because the way I understand Faith doesn't even have an apartment anymore and we still have to go to school and there's Slaying that needs to be done and, and we have friends back home, who are probably worrying their butts off," Buffy glanced at Willow and Giles, the two that always managed to find answers in her eyes. "Can't we do anything about that?"

Willow brightened as she shot up from her position on the couch. She reached behind the armchair and pulled out a notepad in the size of an encyclopaedia from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Actually, I have an idea."

"SEE!" she exclaimed, opening it and showing a scheme after a scheme to all of the people in the living room, who obviously understood nothing of them. Even Giles seemed to scratch his head after the third one.

Unfortunately for them all though, the redhead was way too excited to notice. She showed them the last table she had constructed and spoke,

"I did some research and if I ask Tara to help this should work. Look, I've found a way to recreate the ions of electricity to create a spider web of sorts out of the neutrons and if I add some protons to the mix, creating a magical vortex, which will then neutralize the difference between the paradoxes, I might be able to open a portal..."

"Woah, hold on, Red," immediately Willow flinched and paused, throwing Faith a cautious look. The brunette faltered a little, before shaking her head and smiling as if she hadn't noticed the redhead's reaction to the nickname. She continued her question, "If you can open the portal..."

"Ah, no, sorry, it's actually not a portal," Willow blushed scarlet red, fumbling with her huge notebook again. She opened a picture of what Faith could decipher as a big-scrawly-circle-thingy and begun to colour the outer scrawly-circle-thingy with a red pencil, which she had also pulled out of nowhere it would seem.

"See, if this is the field of electricity made by the positivity of the protons, then by adding some more neutrons and electrons to the mix with a simple antigravity spell, I might be able to balance the amount of antiprotons. So if Tara casts this spell to reach into the vortex that will be created then, then the amount of atoms will be doubled and..."

She paused when she noticed her best friend raise her hand hesitantly.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, uh, I get that this is a really smart talk with lots of smart phrases and all, but... could you repeat all that a bit slower and maybe in, you know, English this time?" The blonde asked sheepishly. "For us who have trouble spelling Physics, not to even mention understanding it."

"Yes please," Xander piped up. "I'm pretty sure I lost you at the "SEE!" part."

Willow glanced between the two of them and opened her notebook once again. Xander and Buffy exchanged a glance, afraid of yet another complicated scheme they would most likely understand nothing about.

So when Willow revealed the new design, they were pleasantly surprised.

There was a circle and two stick figures on the drawing, both of whom had long hair.

"This is you and Faith," the redhead explained, before sketching a huge arrow towards the circle. "You went in and ended up here. Buuuuuut," she drew a long arrow from the portal towards the stick figures. "Our Buffy... and Faith ended up out there. Now, with the right spell I think I can reopen the portal." She coloured the circle a little. "However, it will be solid for a month and because of that you can't go through it, but at least we'd be able to communicate with whoever is on the other side."

She paused, lowering her pencil, but still holding up her notebook for everyone to see. "Is everyone following?"

Buffy and Faith exchanged a glance and nodded slowly, Xander doing the same a moment later.

"Giles, you were with me all the time, weren't you," Willow asked with a smile, while Joyce examined the table she had created, but Giles just remained seated.

The watcher pursed his lips, removed his glasses, cleaned them, put them back on and spoke,

"Most certainly."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** –Thanks to all of you who are reading this even if I am the most slowpokest of all updaters. (Yes I know slowpokest isn't a word, but I'm coining it for myself) I really appreciate you guys :)

**Love, me**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**-AU-**  
_  
"It looks like a squirrel, Faith."_

_"Shut up, B."_

_"How is this supposed to help us out if the figures look like squirrels with little... What are those?"_

_"Stakes."_

_"Those are stakes? How hard is it to draw a stake? It's practically a LINE !"_

_"Shut up, B. Seriously."_

_"You have no future as an artist."_

_"And you have no future at all, if you don't shut up now."_

_"Okay, jeez, no need to look at me like that."  
_  
Buffy plopped back onto the ground folding her tiny hands over her lap as she stared at the brunette in front of her. Faith was laying over a big piece of white paper, crayons around her in disarray and her forehead scrunched up in a small frown as she drew.

The brunette suddenly tilted her head, bit her lip in an adorable way and then...  
_  
"Fuck!"_

Buffy jumped a little at the loud outburst. A second later, she leant over to see what Faith had drawn and faltered.  
_  
"A teddy bear?"_

_"It's a vampire!"_

_"Uh, sure, vampire,"_ the blonde nodded quickly. _"Yeah, I can see that."_

_"I can't,"_ Faith threw her crayon down breaking it into two_. "I can't draw a fuckin' vampire."  
_  
_"It's not that hard. You just draw a head, and a body and tiny fangs,"_ Buffy spoke supportively until a black crayon was practically thrust at her face.

"_Go for it,"_ Faith mumbled, dropping the crayon into Buffy's hand. _"If you manage to make something even remotely similar to a vampire, I'll..."_

_"You'll what?"_

_"Anything,"_ Faith gestured towards the papers. _"If you make it look like a vampire, I'll do anything."_

Buffy rolled the crayon between her fingers, before grinning widely.

_"Oh, you're on."_

How hard could drawing a vampire be?

**-'bout two minutes later-**

_"What the hell is wrong with these crayons?"_ Buffy, tremendously irritated, looked at her vampires – or teddy bears with Elvis haircut actually - and just like Faith had done a few minutes ago, she threw the crayon against the floor with hatred.  
_  
"Pretty sure it's us,"_ Faith murmured, still flat on her back and her eyes closed. _"For some reason we can't speak, we can't write and we can't draw to communicate either."_  
_  
"You couldn't have told me that sooner?"  
_  
_"What?_ _You seriously thought I was all about drawing fluffy animals and shit?"_

_"No..."_ Buffy stood up, tugging down her shirt. _"I just thought you were '__**artistically challenged'**__."_

Faith's sound of resentment never reached the blonde's ears as Willow and Xander could be finally seen in the kitchen, having previously gone away to "chat." Since so many things had been questioned about their humanity and their demonic versions had gone M.I.A, their little ears weren't privy to any information anymore.

At least not if the Scoobies could help it.

Like a miniature version of a kickass spy, the blonde practically melted behind the armchair near the doorway so she could listen in on what the Scoobies were talking about.

She had to get some new information. Any kind of information would do at this point.

"See, Anya has this weird rash..."

And no more information was needed.

With her hands firmly stuck over her ears, Buffy dashed back into the room, surprising Faith when she plopped down next to her and closed her eyes as well.

She was totally willing to live in blessed ignorance for a few more minutes.

**-REALITY-**

"The faster we do this, the better," Willow nodded, once again referring to something on her scribbled drawings. "If we open the portal now, we will see for sure which reality our Buffy and Faith are in as we will use their essence this time. If they're not in fact in yours, we will have to find a different way to open yet another portal just to get you home."

"But wouldn't we have noticed our doppelgangers running around?"

Willow pursed her lips.

"Maybe they didn't reach you yet. We pulled you out pretty fast after we lost them."

Faith hmm-ed.

"Is anyone else feeling a bit afraid of another spell?" Xander spoke up hesitantly. "Last time we ended up with a big – _and naked_ – problem! What if now..."

"Yes, thank you, Xander, especially for stressing the nakedness," Buffy groaned from the couch, interrupting the boy's rant before it even got to begin properly. "But if this might give us a chance to contact the guys in our universe, we have to take it."

"Red's probably going nuts." Faith murmured. When Willow glanced at her she shrugged. "Ya know what I mean. Plus they gotta take care of the runts now."

"Runts?" Giles asked, from his position by the doorway, where he stood with Joyce by his side. "I beg your pardon?"

"Two little kids appeared out of nowhere. Will found them on the streets and they were all... odd." Buffy shifted on the couch, pulling her knees to her and practically burrowing to Faith's side as she talked.

"Odd in what way?"

"They speak a weird language for one, but understand English," the blonde explained. "And when Will cast these translation spells on them, they didn't work at all. Instead the kids were like turned into weird stuff." She tilted her head to look up at her girlfriend. "Was there anything else?"

Faith scratched the back of her neck.

"Well there was the whole part where they interacted with each other unlike any kids I know. Seemed to have real deep talks and stuff. Oh and one of them scared the hell out of X-man by holding his hand or something."

"By holding my hand?"

"Or something," Faith clarified with a small smirk at the guy's injured tone. "I don't know. Someone," cue a look at Giles's direction, "Sent us after a huge nest of slime demons before their sitch was taken care of."

"Yeah, thanks a lot for that, Giles," Buffy sniped. "Now I have to have my shoes dry-cleaned. Again."

"Uh, I apologize?" the British man spoke, confused. He slid into the room now, taking a seat in the armchair. His eyes never wavered from the Slayers. Soon enough, Buffy started to fidget, feeling his intense gaze on her.

"It's not that big of a deal, Giles. I forgive you."

"It's not that."

"Oh," the blonde, burrowed ever more into the brunette next to her, who, with an amused grin on her face, wrapped a hand around her shoulders in return. A moment later, Buffy fidgeted again, still bothered by the heated gaze on her. "Okay. Seriously, Giles. Stop looking at me like that; you're creeping me out!"

Giles blinked for the very first time in what seemed centuries for Buffy. Then a bashful look crossed his face. True to himself, he removed his glasses and proceeded to rub them against his shirt, even thought there wasn't a speck of dust or fog on them.

"Sorry, it's just... this is rather weird to see."

Buffy, still a bit freaked out from earlier, looked between her Watcher and her friends, to see if any of them knew what he was implying here. When she noticed the blank looks, one that was most likely mirrored her on her own face, she took it upon herself to ask.

"What is?"

"This relationship you two share. It's... new for me."

"Isn't old news for us either, Giles," Xander spoke looking between the two Slayers and munching on a doughnut. "We're right there on the weirdo-wagon with you."

"Choo-choo," Willow spoke with a smile.

"It's going to take forever for you guys to get past this, isn't it? Well... you being this iffy about this is new for me too. So I'm starting my own personal weirdo-wagon. What d'ya say to that?"

"I say... make room on that damn thing for me, B," Faith replied, looking between the roomful of people she'd in normal situation call her friends, hell practically family, but now had no word for. "But wasn't Red like about to cast a hugeass spell or something? What happened to that plan?"

"Oh, right," Willow shot up. "Tara's supposed to be here any moment with the supplies and I promised to set up for the spell."

"Okay, we're casting the spell then," Xander spoke, look of apprehension still on his face.

Faith shifted in the couch a little, getting comfortable with the petite blonde curled up to her.

"I'm thinking that all we do is watch, ya know."

"True," Xander nodded slowly, before grabbing another doughnut. "And finish the doughnuts. They're good comfort food."

"Shouldn't Faith and Buffy be eating those then?" Anya asked a moment later, looking at her boyfriend. "I mean they were ripped from their universe and thrust into one, where everything they are is questioned by the ones they call the closest. Shouldn't they have the right for the comfort food? Or maybe Willow, the one who has the fate of not one Buffy, but also another Buffy and TWO Faiths on her shoulder? Or maybe even Mrs. Summers, who is worried for her daughters – both versions of them? Shouldn't those people get the comfort food... Wouldn't it make sense..."

"Anya!"

"Yes, honey?"

"There's enough doughnuts to go around for anyone who wants them."

"Not if you keep up this rate there isn't," the blonde sniped. "It's not like you need the extra weight anyways. I saw that grimace of pain last night when you were holding me up against the wall and pu-OMGH."

"Enjoy your doughnut, Anh," Xander, once again slightly red in the face, spoke slowly, removing his hand from the jelly doughnut he had shoved into his girlfriend's mouth. He looked at the curious slash amused faces of the people around him, put a big smile on his face and spoke, "So, Will, let's get cracking with the Wicca already!"

It didn't take long for the redhead to finish her preparations and Tara, arriving just in time, took even less to add her ingredients.

Soon enough the two Wiccans were in the middle of the room holding hands in front of everyone. Of course, they were doing so just because it was required in the ritual, but that made Willow feel not at all better when she found Buffy and Faith grinning at her identically.

Slightly flustered, the redhead squeezed her friend's hand a little as they continued chanting.

A small light started to swirl in front of them, growing in time.

Xander wordlessly picked up the box of doughnuts and held it out towards the couch. Both Slayers took one and bit into them, as they all stared into the pit of white light that was beginning to slowly look like a portal.

They could already start to make out figures...

**-AU-**

_"If we throw them with armchairs they'd see that we had super strength."_

_"I am not letting you throw them with armchairs, Faith,"_ Buffy chuckled softly, staring at the ceiling. She and Faith were still lying side-by-side, listening into Will's and Xander's hushed conversation that this far had given them _unfortunately_no info on them and _luckily_no further info on Anya's rash either. _"Besides, wouldn't lifting one get the same results."_

_"No, because then I couldn't express my love for Xander and his awesome theory on how you have invisible wings,"_ Faith groaned loudly, placing her forearm over her eyes. _"How this dude has managed to survive in Sunnydale, I do not know."_  
_  
"I have him covered. Anyways, the demonstrating our powers thought isn't that bad. However, then they might think we're the cause of their missing fake-Buffy and fake-Faith."  
_  
Faith lifted her arm off her face and hmm-ed. A moment later, she spoke up,

_"You have a point there."_

_"Of course I do. I'm brilliant,"_ Buffy rose onto her elbow. _"Do you think that we could like find a dictionary or a book and point out words we wanted?"_

"_See, B, these are some of the rare moments, during which it makes sense that you fuckin' beat me on that roof,"_ Faith rubbed her hands together with glee. _"That could actually friggin' work."  
_  
_"I beat you because I'm a kickass fighter,"_ Buffy sat up now. _"And I know. I told you I'm brilliant didn't I? All these things come right from here,"_she tapped her tiny forehead with her index finger._(A/N: See note 1 for a dedication)_ _"If only we could get them to understand us."_

_"Yeah, that'd be an obstacle," Faith_ wrinkled her nose together in a way that made the blonde smile down at her and her incredible five-year-old cuteness. _"'Cause you know, X-man might think that we're trying to point out words for a recipe for the potion that will grow you invisible wings or maybe a way to help the Teletubbies take over the world OR..."_

Buffy couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out.

_"Come on, Faith, give him a break. He's not THAT bad."  
_  
"Will, but Spike said they beat a vampire and when the brunette one held my hands outside the bathroom she was crazy strong! And the blonde one can fly! They must have a secret plot to take over the Hellmouth or something!"

The small brunette on the floor gave Buffy a look, raised one eyebrow and gestured towards the kitchen from where Xander's voice had floated in from.

_"Not that bad?"_

_"Okay, fine, he's kinda bad. But you did creep him out with your Incredible Hulk act."_

_"Incredible Hulk act? I kept his hands together! When I turn green and start ripping my clothes off, then you can freak out. If a tiny kid holds your hands, you friggin' deal with it. However, still, that pointing words out might work for Red."_

_"And the strength demonstrating is also a plan,"_ Buffy added. _"You know, we might actually be able to get ourselves out of this mess."_  
_  
"Oh!"_ Faith shot up, opening her mouth to announce her next brilliant idea, when she froze and her eyes fixated on something behind the blonde. Buffy, who had noticed the brunette sit up suddenly – it's hard to not notice being only a few inches from her – asked,

_"What?"_

Faith didn't reply, choosing to keep staring instead. Understanding now that something had to be happening behind her for the brunette to be speechless, Buffy turned slowly. Her mouth fell open a moment later.

_"What the...?"_

_"I don't..."_ Faith murmured.

_"Me neither."_

"Hey, Will, I'll go check..." Xander's voice reached the Mini Slayer's ears louder for a moment, before it stopped. The man had entered the room and seen the scene in front of him. It took him oh, about five seconds to bellow,

"Will, I told you they were trying to **END THE DAMN WORLD!"**  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

**Note 1:** The dictionary thing? Awesome idea, eh? Totally not mine. It came from an anonymous reviewer named **SkyCaptain** a while ago. Cheers, mate. You made this chapter whole :D

If anyone else has any suggestions, ideas or just random thoughts of what they think could happen, **feel free to drop them off to me in a review, PM, email, by call or by an OWL. I do not however respond kindly to faxes. I am very confused by those**.Really, don't be shy, because even tho I know where this is going, there's never too many adventurous pit-stops you can do (PS: Writer's block might be a b*tch sometimes, so any sort of advice might be the key for me to break it down the next time.)

**Cya at the end of next chapter, guys.**

Hopefully, soon ^^


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N –**So many Scoobies, so many dopplegangers. Please try to pay lots of attention, otherwise you might get lost. (I needed a map, a compass and GPS to finally make sense of it) If it's too complicated lemme know. Thank you.

**Chapter 11**

**-REALITY P.O.V-**

"End the world?" Willow stared through the portal at the doppelganger of her best male friend. She threw a glance at the Slayers from that world – which was evidentially ending now.

"There wasn't an apocalypse coming our way when we left, so don't look this way," the blonde spoke, standing up. She approached the glassy looking portal and hesitantly touched it. It even felt like glass. Way bigger than her both in width and height, the thing looked like a window between the two rooms – the living room she was in and the living room she saw _her _Xander panicking in.

She looked behind her.

"Will, can't he see us?"

_"Will, come on!"  
_  
The group turned towards the portal in unison and Buffy stepped back a little, giving everybody a chance to see what was happening on the other side.

They watched as a redhead practically ran into the picture, probably expecting something horrible because of Xander's tone. Her eyes widened just like their Willow's had a moment ago.

_"Willow, stop them, they're trying to do something positively evil!"_Portal-Xander exclaimed again, but the witch held up a hand as she squinted at the portal. She seemed to look right at them.  
_  
"I think it's a viewing portal,"_ Portal-Willow told the man behind her. _"And it's clearing up! I can see something...I think it's... It's...me?"_

The redhead in the portal took a step back in shock and blinked at them. Portal-Xander's mouth fell open.

Clearly, the thing worked both ways now.

"Yo." Faith, unable not to break the silence that now overtook both of the rooms, raised a hand at the gaping teenagers. "You guys miss us yet?"

The redhead in the portal squealed.

_"FAITH!"_ Her eyes slid over the image in front of her, until she found the blonde by the edge of the giant glass she was looking into. _"BUFFY! We thought something horrible happened to you!"  
_  
The blonde smiled at her best friend.

"No, we're fine. Sort of," She shrugged. "We just took some time off and did what all of the popular kids do this year and hopped into a different world."

"An alternate universe actually," Willow piped up sheepishly, looking at the image of herself in the portal. "See, there was a paradoxical exchange of sorts between the two consistent parallel universes of ours and when I cast the retrieval spell I seemed to get the wrong pair."

_"Oh, that's unfortunate,"_ the Portal-Willow nodded understandingly, while Buffy merely sighed, having long ago accepted that sometimes Willow liked to use really big words that made no sense to mere mortals.

_"Wait, but if your Buffy and Faith are here, then where are they?"_ The portal-Willow tilted her head, looking quizzical. _"Wouldn't they come to us or Giles?"_

"We figured that they might've not made it there yet," Willow replied to herself. "Or maybe... maybe Faith doesn't want to and..."

She paused when she saw two small figures hop up and down in the background of the portal. Kids jumping would be nothing out of ordinary hadn't they been jumping weirdly high.

"... and she won't let Buffy..." she tilted her head, as the tiny blonde started to wave at them in the background of the portal, still hopping. The sight was so odd, that she completely forgot she was in the middle of a theory.

The brunette flipped in the air and her mouth fell open.

"What the hell are the runts doin', Red?" Faith finally voiced the question that everybody on this side of the portal was thinking, as she casually leant forward on the couch and placed her elbows on her thighs. "Did ya give 'em catnip or somethin'?"

Both of the redheads looked at her, before the one in the portal looked behind her. Seeing the kids wave at her and gesture wildly, she sighed.

_"I don't know, they've been acting even weirder ever since you guys disappeared."  
_  
Suddenly, Joyce approached the portal. She went as close as physically possible and narrowed her eyes a little. She locked her gaze on the small blonde at the back of the room. It couldn't be, could it?

The blonde for her part stopped hopping immediately. A moment later the brunette did too, but the blonde was the one that slowly pattered towards the big glass thing. She came to a halt only when she reached the portal. Placing her small hands on it, she peered up at the older woman on the other side.

Joyce crouched down, her hand reaching out. Of course, she soon realized that she couldn't in fact touch the girl as her fingers grazed the glassy surface of the portal instead.

"Buffy?" She finally asked.

Familiar bright green eyes twinkled happily back at her when the small child nodded enthusiastically. She then turned a little and let out a string of gibberish. The small brunette from the back of the room now made her way to the front as well albeit slower than the blonde had. She too halted in front of the portal. A guarded expression on her lips, she slid her thumbs into the loops of her jeans and then looked at her defiantly.

"Faith?"

A small smirk appeared on the kid's face, before she looked away quickly, murmuring something barely audible in gibberish that made the blonde nudge her with a soft look on her face.

"No way." Buffy suddenly joined her mom's side, staring down at the two kids. "There's no way that's us."

Joyce looked between the two blondes – the big and the tiny one, before asking in a rather motherly tone of voice,

"You think I don't remember what my own daughter looks like?"

"But she's so tiny."

"It's not like ya have grown all that much, B," Faith's voice came closer from her than she had anticipated. Surely enough, a hand soon rested on her arm as the brunette eyed the kids. "Kinda looks like ya, now that I think about it."

Buffy looked between the little brunette in the portal and the woman next to her. Now that she knew, it really seemed to be painfully obvious.

"How come we didn't see this sooner?"

"It's not like you consider it, B," Faith murmured her response. "Dunno, 'bout you, but if I find two homeless kids, my first thought wouldn't be that they might be kid-versions of us from another universe. Then again, might be just me."

The blonde smiled at her briefly, before looking back at the kids.

"Are they really us? Little slayers with..."

_"Oh my goddess!"_Portal-Willow, who had watched the exchange quietly, suddenly yelped, gaining everybody's attention. _"They really slayed those vampires! Spike said so! And Xander,"_ she turned her back now towards the roomful of people on this side of the portal_. "You said the little brunette had a lot of strength in her arms."  
_  
The little kid in a t-shirt with a dragon on it looked a bit smug now.

"Well, that explains that hand-holding deal," Faith glanced at the guy in the armchair. "But why are they so tiny?" Eyes moved onto the redhead on their side of the portal. "Your B and me... they were all adult-sized when they got lost, right?"

"Yeah," Willow stepped closer to the portal to see the kids better. "I don't know what might've happened. I could research it."

_"Me too!"_ Portal-Willow replied enthusiastically.

"M-maybe it's the p-protection spell," A hesitant voice spoke up. Heads turned, some bodies as well. All eyes were on Tara now, who had up until now stood quietly by the corner of the room, surveying. She fidgeted slightly under the sudden attention, but continued anyways. "In s-some c-cases there's a p-protection spell to s-stop people from changing the b-balance of good and evil. I r-read about a t-timetravel spell, which was p-protected like that, so the f-future couldn't be changed."

There was a short silence, as the non-magicky people just looked between the blonde witch and the redheaded one, waiting for a reaction.

"Brilliant!" Willow finally breathed, giving a beaming smile to the blonde, who shyly smiled back. She then turned to her portal-self. However, barely a moment later, she turned back towards Tara. "Wait, shouldn't it have worn off? If it was meant to keep the equilibrium then now it's fixed – in a way. Shouldn't they turn back?"

The blonde looked at the walls as if for inspiration.

"H-have you tried a cancellation s-spell after B-buffy and Faith came h-here?"

Willow turned around yet again to look questioningly at the other Willow, who shook her head at them.

_"No, we haven't. They didn't seem to work and we didn't think to try again."_ She brightened a little. _"But I'll call Tara right away."_

A small thud could be heard as both of the children plopped down, groaning in unison. Probably to express their enthusiasm at the chance that more spells would be cast. A soft chat in gibberish begun moment later.

Joyce smiled at the small girls, before standing up.

"Where am I?" she asked then, looking through the glass and at Willow and Xander. "I can understand how Buffy and Faith wouldn't recognize themselves as kids, but I should have known it was Buffy."

"_Business trip,"_ Portal-Xander finally spoke up, his shock slowly but surely wearing off. _"Some antique furniture."  
_  
The woman hmm-ed and both of the living rooms were enveloped in silence as nobody could think of anything to say.

Xander took another doughnut, ignoring the look of disproval that Anya aimed at him in process.

"So..." He bit into it, staring through the portal and at the image of himself. "Are you with an Anya too?"

The Portal-Xander grinned.

"_Yeah, we got together a while before Willow and..."_

A loud cough interrupted Xander.

Faith cleared her throat again, before speaking up,

"Yeah... X-man, Red... You should try to keep some of our personal stuff to yourselves for now," she placed her hands into her pockets, "Cause evidentially our lives and the lives of the people here – ya, not quite the same."

"_What do you mean not the same?"_ Portal-Willow asked, looking between the two Slayers. _"Is it a bad world? Because I can research ways to help you or-or send you to a world full of sardines instead! I found a spell to do that. Do you want me to do that?"_

"What? No. No sardines. No, really." Buffy shook her head. "No sardines are needed. It's not that bad, it's just... different. For example me and Faith, not supposed to be the best of pals."

Portal-Xander blinked in surprised.  
_  
"Wait a moment. There's actually a world where you and Faith can keep your hands off each other?"_

"We're workin' on changin' that," Faith's raspy voice held a tint of amusement as she exchanged a grin with Xander. Then she turned to the redhead."But Red?"  
_  
"Yeah, Faithy?"_

"First of, would ya _stop_ callin' me that. And secondly, remember that chat you and B had? Around the time me and X-man were thrown to jail for 'sexual assault' on vampires?"

A short laugh escaped the portal-Willow, as she most likely remembered the occasion and the phone call Buffy had received just as Willow had finished ranting her heart out about Tara. Then it seemed to occur to her.  
_  
"Ooooh she's not..."_

"She is," Buffy's lips curled just a little. "Just not..." she tilted her head just the tiniest bit.

Another 'ooooh' escaped the redhead.

Willow fidgeted, looking around the room. She had a distinctive idea of what the three of them were talking about and now she was worried she might've not been the only one. However, Xander almost immediately calmed her down by changing the subject,

"Wait, I got thrown to jail? That's so cool."

Faith turned around and smirked at him.

"I got the same reaction out of you... him... ya know what I mean, as soon as we got out." Her smirk widened a little. "See, the two of us were just casually strollin' towards Giles' place when we heard screaming. Men screaming like women, basically, so we of course decided to check it out."

"Yeah?" Xander leant in eagerly. "What happened?"

"So we go into the alley and see a group of these three chick vampires trying to snack on some dudes. Wicked strong chicks too. Practically passed those bodybuilder type of guys around in air. Anyways, the two of us go and help them out. Some punches here, a little there and I dust like two of them, while X-man hit one over the head with a friggin' brick."

_"Immediately knocked her out,"_ Portal-Xander piped up proudly. "_Then Faith threw me her stake and just when I was about to finish her, cops showed up."_

Faith's smirk widened.

"Imagine that, some guy straddling an unconscious chick, who looked damn normal again, with me edging him on with 'do it'."

"_Instantly arrested, no questions. They pretty much dragged us to the car,"_Portal-Xander chuckled. _"You know, back then it wasn't as much fun, but now_..." He chuckled again. _"Luckily, the girl they brought with them to be a witness, tried to kill them as soon as she woke up."_

"We were released even before B managed to drag her ass there. No questions asked," Faith concluded, glancing over her shoulder at Portal-Xander. "Wasn't even the worst of the shit me and X-man have gotten into."

Portal-Xander gave her a wink.  
_  
"Adventures, Faith. Adventures."_

He then knocked against the portal.

_"How long does this thing last anyways?"_

"Oh, right," Willow spoke, "It's supposed to last for an hour, maybe two, but I can't recast it immediately."

"_That would take too much energy,"_Portal-Willow added.

"Yeah. Which is why Tara and I researched it and found out that the only way we can recast it without losing too much energy or causing an inter-universal hole is in 7-day intervals until we can send them home during the next full moon."

_"What? So we can check up with each other just once a week, while they're stuck there for a whole month?"_ Portal-Xander looked at his best friend. _"Will?"_

_"It'd make sense,"_ the redhead nodded at him. _"I could talk to Tara, but if Willow and Tara think it's right, then,"_ She shrugged_. "It would make sense if I and Tara thought it was right too. Unless,"_ She held up a finger and looked at her friends on the other side. _"Are you sure there's nothing bad about that world? Maybe bad witches? Or bad Willow?"_She squinted at herself. _"You're not bad, are you? Or a vampire?"_

The other redhead swallowed.

"No?"

Portal-Willow nodded slowly, before hmm-ing.

_"Okay, I believe you for now, but if Faithy or..."  
_  
"Red."

_"If__**Faithy,**__"_ Willow seemed to be amused if anything by the pained groan that escaped Faith, _"or Buffy tell me you've been mean, I will take Tara and we will hunt you down!"_ The redhead stepped closer to the portal menacingly, slightly surprised when the other Willow did that too.

"And if my Buffy or Faith tell me you've been mean, I will hunt you down too!" The redhead pointed at her. "And I'll take Tara too!"

"Hey," Xander aimed at the Portal-Xander, "Are you going to help her?"

_"I don't know, Willow is kinda scary when she's doing her mojo,"_The Portal-Xander replied. _"Maybe we should keep to the sidelines just in case."_

"Yeah, you know what? I like the way you think," Xander grinned at his doppelganger.

The small faceoff by the portal ended, when the redheads both turned to throw a look at their Xanders.

"Good, now that the over protectiveness is taken care of," Buffy rubbed hands together. "Can any of you call my mom and put her on phone with this mom, so she could tell her it's okay if me and Faith share a room. Anyone? Please?"

Xander and Willow looked at her amused. The male of the two finally rubbed his hands together, slightly gleeful for some reason.

_"You know, this is like a revenge for every time you two have mocked me and Anya."_

Faith slid a tongue over her bottom lip as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You do know that B and I will be able to kick your ass again in about a month, right?"

"_You can try!"_Portal-Xander claimed all man-like, before adding, _"But there will always be Mrs. Summers to hide behind."_

"If you don't help me, I'll make sure you won't make it to mom," Buffy promised, before adding with a pout. "Come on, guys. Don't you want to help me out? Because here I was, thinking you two were my friends."

"It wouldn't matter anyways," Joyce stepped into the conversation. "I mean, I understand that your lives there were different, but this is weird for all of us and I can't have my teenage daughter..."

"Who's almost 20!"

"...who's barely 19 and still living under my roof and thus abiding by my rules. You got that, young lady?"

Buffy exhaled as if in pain.

"Yes, mom."  
_  
"This Mrs. Summers tried that too,"_ Portal-Willow spoke, before grinning. _"But she helped them redecorate their shared room later."_

Joyce frowned at her, but didn't say anything.

_"Honey, I'm home! And I brought a friend."_

Anya bounded into the view the portal gave them.

_"That is what lovers say to one another when they arrive, right, Xander? Because I saw that on television and it seemed genuine."_

"Oh yes!" Anya yelled excitedly. "I have seen that too!"

"_AH!"_ Portal-Anya dropped the doughnuts onto the floor in the living room. _"Why is there a mirror with people in it? Xander, what did Willow do now?"_

"Hey, why do you think it was me?" Both of the Willows spoke up at the same time.  
_  
"And it echoes too!"_ Portal-Anya complained. "_That's not even quality magic."_

"Oh, listen you," Portal-Willow turned around.

"Hey, don't use that tone with me," Anya frowned at the image the portal relayed.

_"Yeah, don't use that tone with me!"_ Portal-Anya repeated, before looking past Willow. _"Hey, there's two of me."  
_  
The Anya on the other side smiled, sitting up a little straighter.

"Yes, there is you and there is me, which makes two," the Anya on this side nodded. "However, how do we feel about it? I mean, now we're less special, are we not? So should we hate each other?"

_"Well, you have a point there,"_ The blonde ex-demon in the portal nodded, before asking, very seriously, _"Are you planning on stealing my Xander from me?"_

"No," Anya cheerfully patted the thigh of the man next to her. "I have my own."

The Portal-Anya dipped her head in understanding, before enquiring,  
_  
"Can I borrow him somehow? Just for a little while?"_

"ANYA!" Two Xanders cried out, before each of them turned towards their respective girlfriends.

"_Shush, Xander, can't you see I'm in the middle of a conversation?"_Portal-Anya approached the barrier, ignoring the flustered man. _"See, I was thinking, you let me have your Xander for a while and once I'm done I'll ship both of them to you. That way we can..."_ She had made it to the portal and seemingly only now noticed something. _"Hey, why are the little people sitting here?"_

Immediately everyone looked down at the two kids - Buffy and Faith from what they knew - who were now looking up to them with a slightly tired look. They heard another groan and a soft exchange of more gibberish. The tiny Buffy waved at them then, with what seemed to be an 'oh yes, keep ignoring the little people and continue talking while we're stuck like this' attitude and let her head rest on the brunette's shoulder.

The move itself was adorable, but the ease of it made Willow hesitate.

She looked at the kids on the other side of the glass and crouched down a little.

"Are you sure you're the Buffy and Faith that belong here with us?"

Buffy nodded a little, not removing her head.

"Completely?"

There was some more annoyed sounding gibberish – from the brunette this time – before the little blonde turned towards her tiny companion and spoke something to her. A frown appeared on the face of the brunette toddler, but she didn't say anything.

A second later, she stood up and flashed her navel.

It happened quickly and almost nobody even got why it was done.

Willow did though.

She bit her lip.

"We'll get you back to normal as soon as possible," she vowed, standing up and looking at the Portal-Willow. "You should call Tara."

_"Oh, but she's here,"_ Anya spoke matter-of-factly. When she got surprised looks, she added, _"What? I told you I brought a friend."_

"_Well,"_ Portal-Willow looked around. _"Where is she?"  
_  
Anya looked around in the room, before a proverbial light bulb lit over her head.

_"Oh, I asked her to help me put away the groceries you sent me to get_," she nodded happily. _"So she should be in the kitchen."_

_"You asked for ... help?"_ Portal-Willow repeated. _"So that means you asked her to do all of it, right?"  
_  
_"What? My arms were tired! Plus the mean lady at the cash register took my money_. _All of it!"_ Anya frowned at the redhead. _"So it makes sense that I'm both physically and emotionally exhausted and couldn't do it myself."  
_  
"It does make sense."

Of course, the person to agree with Anya... was Anya.

With a small huff, the redhead took off to find her friend.

"Half-an-hour ago, I thought this situation couldn't get any weirder," Buffy made her way back to the couch and grabbed a doughnut. She was dismayed to see that only a couple remained.

"It's us, B," Faith casually leant against Xander's armchair. "Stuff always gets weirder when we're involved."

The Slayers exchanged a meaningful glance before settling into their new positions, while they waited for Willow and Tara to return. Anya kept up the conversation by chatting animatedly to herself and Xander filled the embarrassment quota for everyone for about a week.

Soon enough, Faith was perched on Xander's armchair, while the guy, who previously had practically jumped out of his skin every time Faith brushed against him even a little, now acted as her personal armrest. Buffy was sprawled on the couch with her mom, who had at least in Faith's mind, totally stolen her spot, sitting by her feet, sipping tea. Willow and Tara were softly talking to one another by the bookcase and Giles was reading a little black book in his armchair.

"I think the other Willow got lost," Buffy finally stated, lifting the arm she had thrown over her eyes. She peeked into the portal – the part she could see that Anya and Anya weren't blocking while gesturing wildly – and looked around for any sign of the redhead.

None were seen. Only the kids – she and Faith actually – who were now on the couch flipping through the channels. Her mind did a little calculation. According to the people she was now stuck with for a month, their Faith plus their Buffy equalled war and bloodshed. She couldn't figure out how laughter and nudging fit into the equation.

But then again, math? Never been one of her strengths.

"Perhaps somebody should go look for her?" Giles, who had been exceptionally quiet up until now, offered, turning the page in his book.

"I can't see X-man anywhere," Faith replied, leaning against the back of the armchair. "Ya know what I mean," she added, when Xander looked up at her. "And if any of you actually manage to make Anya shut up and go find the lost witches, I'll give you a friggin' medal."

"If I go between those two, I might not make it and then the medal will be all kinds of pointless," Willow replied dryly, looking at the brunette. Seeing her there, that close to Xander, without neither of them seeming to be uncomfortable, was just very weird.

Even weirder was that when Buffy made a note of placing the medal at her gravestone, making Faith crack a grin and add that Anya might steal it if it was worth anything, she laughed right alongside with the previously insane slayer.

"T-the portal might c-close soon," the blonde next to her whispered, reminding her what she already knew. They didn't know how much time they had left, so they couldn't be sure if they would even see the spell be cast.

"_Come on, you two."_

Xander turned in his armchair all of the sudden and if Faith had been anything less than a Slayer, she might've ended up sprawled on the floor. But as it was, she simply shifted a little.

"Finally," Buffy breathed, sitting up. "Did you two need a map to find your way back?"  
_  
"We were just..."_ Portal-Willow waved her hand a little, before flushing. "_You know, we got distracted a little."_

_"Or a lot,"_ The boy next to her grinned widely. _"Not that I don't approve. I do, you should do it all the time. Get distracted, I mean and if I happen to just stumble by, that's okay too, but I think there's someone in need of your assistance right now, Will."_

_"Oh, of course,"_ the redhead went to the couch, on which the kids were sitting on. _"This should be easy. If done correctly the spell will cancel all recent magic placed upon them."_ She looked across the room at the blonde, who had casually moseyed herself into the room, also a bit flushed.

With a smile on her face, Willow recited the spell.

White smoke just as expected.

It disappeared. Also expected.

And then they saw two kids on a couch.

_"Damn."_

As in sync two pairs of tiny hands went to their heads as if to check if they had everything they needed. They stared at each other for a moment, then sighed in unison. Either relief or disappointment, nobody knew for sure.  
_  
"Why didn't it work?"_ Portal-Xander looked at the two kids in front of him and then at his friend. He turned, ready to ask the other Willow, when he noticed the portal shimmering a little. _"Hey is that supposed to do that?"_

"Oh no," Willow, who had with disappointment seen her mirror image fail with the spell, shook her head. "It's already closing!"

Those words seemed to be the magical words as with a blinding flash the portal ceased to exist.

Buffy, her sleepiness gone within a second, stared at the spot the large portal had been at moment ago,

"What just happened?"

"Time ran out," Willow explained. "We'll get to reopen the viewing portal in seven days, but until then," she looked around in the room. "It's just us."

How much could happen in seven days anyways?

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – This was one... long chapter. I hope nobody got tired of it half-way or something ^^ It wasn't my fault, the Scoobs just couldn't stop talking, you know? Oh and in case you're wondering, the whole slightly confusing portal thingy? It happens rarely, usually it in the same format than earlier.

I know you all were worried about that. I just feel it in my toes ^^

Oh and the reason I updated? I got sinus infection and can't really leave my house. Or my room. OR the warmth of my blanket. Also, I was feeling really guilty.

So if you read the entire chapter AND survived the entire damn Author's not- speech, then treat yourself to a cookie, dude. You totally deserve it.

And if you just happen to think that reviews make sick people feel way happier and healthier and stuff... who am** I** to argue with you?

**Cya guys,**

**Author**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**-AU-**

Buffy poked the brunette with her toe, feeling bored.

An hour had passed since the portal closed. A whole hour. And they still hadn't actually understood what had happened or why and whether or not they were ever going to be taller than three feet.

But hopefully that was about to change.

Anya and Xander were sitting down on the carpet, a bag of popcorn between them, while the tiny Slayers lounged casually on the different ends of the couch, a distance between them that could easily be crossed when Buffy felt like poking the other girl.

Which, since she was so bored, happened often.

Willow, however, stood stiffly in the middle of the room, facing the rest of them.

Of course, the redhead was a little nervous because of the task at hand, but nothing else had worked. She hoped that she could do this. That she could pull this off. She felt capable, she felt... like she was about to faint.

Damn that performance anxiety of hers.

She exchanged a nervous half-smile with her girlfriend, who was nearby, acting as moral support while hanging up a white fabric in front of her.

See, once the portal closed, all of her friends had been so confused. At first, Willow had tried to get Giles to come down there, since he had experience trying to make the Scoobies understand complicated things like demons and rituals and... and well, everything really.

He had even tried to explain the innocence of bunnies to Anya.

Fine, so one of his attempts had failed epically, but overall, his explanation record was still pretty outstanding.

However, just like before – when Xander had tried to get him to come down to see the portal – Giles had not picked up his phone.

So that left her in a situation, where she had to explain the rules and laws and everything. At first, she had thought it would be simple enough. The laws of physic were usually self-explanative and magic was just so easy and fun.

And yet, as soon as she started to tell them about how the portal was conjured and how it works... all she got in return were these blank looks. So she had gotten rid of the long, explicit terms of physics and tried to tell them in simple English.

They hadn't understood a thing.

It had agitated her a little, since it's not like periodical shift in the protonic paradox of time is a complicated thing really. But since she was a good friend and all, she decided to give it another shot.

So she had pulled out magical markers and enormous papers so she could draw the portal. She had even used a variation of colours for each important sector of it.

Anya had noted that if she drew pizzas, she should always add cheese. Otherwise it wouldn't look as appetizing.

Willow had huffed in response, before trying to draw it from a different perspective. As a result, the blonde child – who she now identified as her best friend, stuck in an itty-bitty body, had rotated herself in one million ways, until she hung upside-down from the couch.

Only then had she looked at Willow and murmured something. Something, Willow didn't even understand. However, Faith had seemed to, because merely a moment later, she too lay in a similar position. She said something to the blonde, who blinked, tilted her head just an inch and then burst out laughing.

Willow had taken it as a clue that they really had no idea what she was trying to portray. The beyond confused look on Xander's face and the way Anya was just sitting there, examining her nails told her that they were not following either.

Hence her current plan.

She stood behind the cloth, finally ready.

Extreme measures had to be taken.

She exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled. And then... stuck her left hand, one stuck inside a woollen sock, in the air, so it appeared over the edge of the sheet.

"Hello! My name is Mr. Sockportal!"

...

"_We fuckin' died, didn't we?"  
_  
Buffy, curled up on one edge of the couch, glanced over to the brunette.

Faith's chin rested on one of those couch cushions, her left hand under it, while her eyes were on the so-called Mr. Sockportal, who was now talking about his parents and how he came to be in this beautiful magical world thanks to his mommy Protonical Vortex and his daddy Magical Neutron.

"_Chemistry sex,"_ the brunette finally dragged her eyes to meet the blonde's green ones. _"We're in hell. We have to be. And they're torturin' us with some damn chemical thingies that have sex and give birth to woollen socks!"_

Buffy snorted, unable not to. She tilted her head and grinned.

_"At least she didn't draw more penises."  
_  
Faith's lips curled as she peered at her over her cushion.  
_  
"I thought you were sure it looked like a rocket from that angle."_

_"Yeah, well, that was before you pointed out the ... details."_ Buffy rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She glanced back at her bed sheet and her old sock, which was peeking out and currently telling her its life story.

She sadly accepted the fact that this was a relatively normal situation for her.

"And then I started to grow, until I was a big, functional Sockportal!"

"_Faith."_

_"Mhm?"_

_"Why are my friends so weird?"_The blonde paused, before quickly adding._"No. Wait. Don't answer that. You'll probably say something about pots and kettles and other kitchenware. Plus you'll make it sound dirty somehow."_

Faith grinned.

"_I didn't even have to say anything."_

"I met Ion soon... The two of us had... uh... chemistry."

Buffy watched as the tiny brunette nearby sat up and stretched, arching her back in the process. The move, seemingly innocent, made her black T-shirt rise up just enough for her scar to be seen. Unable to stop herself, Buffy's eyes immediately locked on it, remaining on the spot even when the fabric was lowered again.

It was painful. Even on regular Faith, the scar would've made her feel beyond guilty. It would've reminded her of the way they both had screwed up last year and the way she had almost taken a human life with such ease.

But now... Marking the skin of a small child – barely past the toddler stage of her life – it felt so utterly wrong. So horrible.

"_It'll prolly disappear in a small while. Coma slowed down the kickass healing."_

Faith's voice made her eyes travel up, slowly, until brown eyes were locked with hers.

_"I'm..."_

Faith's face remained expressionless as she shook her head.  
_  
"Don't be."_

"But when Ion and his friends got into a fight with this bad guy – Hydrogen, as he was called by his pals, they accidentally caused an explosion**... BOOM!"**

Faith's gaze snapped onto the redhead – or technically her hand. She then looked back at the blonde and asked,  
_  
"Shouldn't we actually try to follow the explanation of Red's crazy sock?"_

Buffy glanced over her shoulder at her friends: Willow kept going on about the adventures of Mr. Sockportal, while Anya and Xander were seated on the carpet, looking up at the show with something akin to delight on their faces.

So easy to amuse, those two.

But since this was kind of important to them – and it wasn't like they could ask her about it later, since their speech was still incomprehensible – she reckoned Faith had a point.  
_  
"Yeah, probably,"_ She replied, shifting on the couch so she could see her sock talk to her. She bit her lip and squinted, trying to follow. However, soon she realized that the words seemed to form nothing but...

"Blah-Blah-Blahhedy-blah-blah-blaaaaaaah!"

So who could blame her for letting her eyes (and thoughts) wonder. At first, as her eyes landed on the brunette, she thought about their past. Then she remembered that she was hungry. After that, her thoughts seemed to involve mainly sandwiches and pickles.

She wasn't even aware that she was still staring at Faith – being busy thinking about food and all – but the brunette chose to remind her.

_"Ya know, checking me out makes more sense when I have boobs, B,"_ she replied, smirking while her eyes remained on a spot past Buffy – on Mr. Sockportal, Buffy assumed.

However, a moment later they fluttered to her.

"_For reals, B, I thought you wanted to know this shit."_

_"I do! I just..."_the blonde trailed off, not even knowing what she 'just' did or wanted. _"...Never mind."_

The brunette kept her gaze on her for a split-second, before humming and looking back at Willow. Buffy followed suit, but barely two minutes later, she felt ... a little odd. So she glanced at her right just to find Faith looking straight at her, a pensive look on her face.

_"Who's checking a child out now, you weirdo_?" she joked half-heartedly.

Faith made a small sound of amusement at the back of her throat, before placing her chin on the palm of her hand. She glanced at Willow, then back at Buffy and spoke, completely matter-of-factly,  
_  
"I have no idea what the hell she's talking about."_

Buffy looked back at her, before innocently shrugging her shoulders.  
_  
"Don't look at me. I've been thinking of pickles for a while now."_

Faith's brows furrowed and she opened her mouth. Then she closed it. A moment later, she groaned,

_"Fuckin' awesome, B. Now I'm bored as well as starving."_

_"Ditto,"_ the blonde responded. She then bit her lip and nonchalantly looked around in the room. Tara, Xander and Anya were all engrossed in Willow's incredibly long puppet show slash explanation and Willow herself couldn't see them thanks to the thick bed sheet between her and the mini slayers.

Good. Nobody to stand in the way of her sacred quest then.

_"Come on,"_ she sat up, speaking quietly_. "Let us hunt."_

_"Hunt?"_ Faith repeated, a touch of mockery in her voice. A moment later she pushed herself up_. "But if that's a wicked weird codeword of yours for gettin' food from the fridge, then I'm game."_

Buffy gave her a look and waved her left hand a little.

_"You say potato, I say..."_  
_  
"Watermelon."_ Faith interrupted. _"But I'm five-by-five with it. Just as long as the damn thing's edible."_

She then surprised the blonde by grabbing her hand as she slid off the couch.

_"Let the hunt begin!"_

**-REALITY-**

The portal had closed about an hour ago.

Ever since then, all of them had come to a realization that they were stuck in an interesting mess for the next four weeks. A mess, they didn't quite know how to clean up.

So they had begun a small discussion over the things they needed to do. A small discussion which soon became a large one, since they realized there were one billion and one roadblocks in their way. Plus a crater. And some nice meteors about to crash into them – the biggest meteor of currently being the Watchers' Council. The Scoobs were slightly afraid of the possibilty that the Council could strike at any moment and take a completely innocent Faith with them.

So Giles was assigned to go and fight off that meteor. The translation: He was in the other room on the phone with a representative, trying to make the Watchers' Council understand that Faith has come around and now wants to fight the good fight again.

Xander was sure he heard something about supporting the world peace and saving homeless kittens as well.

That left everyone else in the room trying to figure out the way around the crater called college, which Buffy had to attend. Surprisingly, Buffy actually seemed to want to do it and it was her Mom and Willow who figured it was not the best idea.

At that moment, the only guy left in the room figured he had fallen asleep and gone to a twisted world, where everything was possible.

Then he remembered that's what his life was like every other day.

Eh.

But Willow's explanation that Buffy was different in this reality and that people could find out that something had happened and thus start asking questions, made sense in a way. The issue however remained without a solution for the time being, since they smoothly moved over to the question about where will Faith and Buffy live.

For a split-second Faith had suggested her apartment.

Then Buffy gently reminded her that the Watcher Council doesn't support crazy psycho Slayers and that she probably doesn't even have a place anymore.

That had been the end of that idea.

The solution the group had come up with was that they'd both live in here for the time being; at least until they figured out whether or not Buffy would return to college this month.

After that the issues kept coming with ease, the solutions – not so much anymore. So, when after a rather exhausting debate over their usual patrolling, Xander leant back in his armchair, he was surprised to notice something missing from his armrest. He quickly glanced at his girlfriend on the couch with Mrs. Summers and then turned a little so he could look behind him.

One more glance at the couch.

"Guys? Hey! GUYS?"

The chattering finally stopped and everyone turned towards him. He could still hear Giles softly speaking in the kitchen, but it didn't matter right now. All he wanted to know was,

"Where are Buffy and Faith?"

There was a pause during which everybody looked around the room in confusion.

"They were just here!" Willow exclaimed. Then frowned. "Weren't they?"

Xander scratched his head in response, not able to figure out how he didn't notice a girl, who was practically using him as a footstool a while ago, just disappear.

Joyce seemed to be doing the same, as she kept frowning and glancing to her left.

"I think they went upstairs." Anya took the last doughnut and bit into it, before adding, "About ten minutes ago."

"What? Really?" Xander blinked, unbelievingly. "Ten minutes? And you didn't even ask where they were going? Or why they're not here to discuss, you know, the important things we discuss."

Anya raised a single eyebrow and gave him the universal 'duh' look.

"Why would I ask something I know?"

"Wait, so where_did_ they go?" Willow directed at Anya. The blonde just smirked at her, but it seemed that was all it took, as a reddish hue appeared on Willow's cheeks. "Oh. Wow. Uh..."

"No way." Xander stared at the doorway that led to the staircase with blatant interest. "Really?" He then turned to Willow. "Go check."

"What?" The redhead exclaimed. "What if they're... I already... No! You go." Then as if understanding what she said. "Wait. No! You can't go either."

Xander blinked, his expression mirroring the train of thoughts in his head. Slowly, but surely a small smile appeared.

"But maybe I should go. You know, just to see if they're okay and... and..."

"To prove you're a perv?" An amused voice interrupted. He quickly glanced towards the doorway, where Faith stood now, a glass of water in her hand. "B's fixin' up a sandwich for herself." She shifted her weight against the doorframe. "We went upstairs to grab an Advil. Lots of changes, ya know?"

Xander flushed ever-so-slightly and opened his mouth, probably to defend himself, but a loud knock interrupted him.

As in one, all heads turned towards the front door. Faith, almost on instinct, backed away from it while a cheerful, "I'll get it," rang through the house.

Before anyone could even try and stop her, Buffy bounced to the front door and pulled it open, a sandwich in her left hand.

"Hey, Buffy!"

The blonde blinked in surprise, looking up at the guy in front of her.

"Oh, hey... Uh..."

No more words were necessary as unexpectedly two large arms went around her, pulling her closer. Her sandwich still in hand, she gasped when her lips were covered by bigger ones. Ones that seemed to be trying to vacuum hers off.

So, doing what every girl in a situation like this should do, she pulled away, clenched her right hand into a fist and punched the big guy right between his eyes.

"BUFFY!"

The man, caught completely off-guard, stumbled backwards and tripped on the doorsill. An action that made him fall and hit his head against the wooden doorframe in the process. It was very likely that the guy was out cold even before he collided with the floor.

Willow, the one that had screamed out the blonde's name, hurried to his side. She crouched down next to him; glad, when she realized that he was okay and just unconscious. That made sure, she looked up at her best friend, bewildered.

Buffy stood there, wide eyed, staring at the body in front of her.

Then she silently lifted her sandwich and took a huge bite out of it. Her eyes met Willow's before she spoke, rather defensively,

"Hey, Riley Finn does_NOT_ get to kiss me."

She tensed for a split-second, when hands suddenly encircled her from behind, but almost immediately relaxed her stance once again. She leant back into the soft body behind her, placing her head on the taller girl's shoulder.

An impish grin appeared on her lips a moment later, when Faith spoke up, the slightly possessive tone in her voice clear.

"A-fuckin'-men to that."

**XxXxXxXxXx**  
**  
A/N** – I got a PM few days ago, asking me to update. Being in an awesome mood, I promised to do so before the week ends... So here it is, people - Chapter 12. And some dare to say I am not kind ^^

I know the updates have been scarce lately and god, how I wish I could write more often, but school... it just sucks hardboiled eggs, people. I think most of you know that titbit, but eh, I just had to mention it.

So, **I thank all of you, who're sticking with it**. If you've reviewed this story, you've probably made my day a lot more tolerable. If you've PM-ed me, then hopefully I've replied and thanked you for caring enough. If I haven't, well PM me again and tell me off for not replying the first time ^^

**Anyways, cya at the end of the next chapter, people!**


End file.
